I know y'all are C5 guys, But I'm just a C4 guy with no tail lights.

From my "No Tail lights" thread-
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-g...-lighting.html

Bill-I read your at least half of the 66+ pages of great info.

Armed with this knowledge and the FSM Electrical manual I went looking for G401.
G-401

I took nearly all the panels off the rear of this vette. (I hope I get at least half of them back in). Here is what I finally found.



It was behind this panel on the passenger side, as described.



I'm not sure it is the problem, especially when I compare it to G104- This isn't a ground. This is 12v+



Also, just next, kinda below the battery tray was this- it reminded me of Bills picture of the "under hood Chassis Ground connector" that he uses. It is the Air Bag Sensor, Cleaned up the ground as best I could. Still have the Light lit up on the dash.



It was attached with two incredibly corroded bolts. and underneath it is rust city. I've shown all the other pictures- Here is rust city-



Am I on the right track? I'll have a few hours tomorrow to clean and paint the mess. I'll clean and consider soldering the big gorilla.

Do I need to take apart my unconfirmed "under hood Chassis Ground connector"?

Any and all help is appreciated from my C5 brothers.

 

There are really only about four things that could cause this condition. Starting from the battery end, check the tail light fuse. Assuming that you have done that and found it to be good, check the switch. If that is good, check the bulbs for good filaments. The only other thing would be the grounds but I would think that if the ground is good for the brake lights that the ground would be good for the tail lights. Also, using a multimeter, less than $10 at Harbor Freight, check the tail light sockets for 12vdc with the light switch on. If you don't have 12vdc, using an entirely different ground for the test, revert to step one and trace the wiring back. Actually, I would check the voltage in the sockets FIRST, then work back. Hope this helps.

Jim

 

Makes sense.
And yes the brake lights and turn signals work.

The tail fuze is good. I've swapped in new light bulbs on 2 of the 4 lights, (the old ones looked good) (does it make a diference if I didn't swap all four? I don't think so,,)

I haven't checked the switch. It turns on the head lights, why not tail?

SO- I'll turn on the tail lights, find me a long test wire, ground it at one end then I'm going to probe the (-) wire hopefully grounding it out. If that works, then problem solved.

If it doesn't then I'll have to deal with the switch.

By the way, this is from the FSM-

 

I have voltage with the brake lights. but nothing with just the tailights on.

 

2004 Found the car this morning with dead battery. Disconnected bat terminals and connected charger to car terminals less battery. The whole electrical system is pulsing. lights flashing. Disconnected alternator, headlight motors, fuel pump, fan relays. No fix. Any ideas??????
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Probably not the best idea to connect the charger to the system because some chargers don't have a pure DC output.

Charge the battery and reconnect it, hope for the best.

Charlie

 

NEVER,,,,, EVER,, Not even temporarily,,,,, For ONE,, second Think or even DREAM about trying to power the car with a battery charger!: ack:

You can SMOKE your electrical system $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$

It will NOT work!!!

The battery acts as a storrage device and a buffer. The battery charger is NOT pure DC. Its a square wave DC and your C5 will,,, know the difference

 

disconnected..got it . Will know the results later this AM

 

Bill,

Thanks for the information. I have been following your posts for years.
Fortunately, I did no damage. I usually have jumper box connected, too many fumes in garage. Cars works fine. Just have to figure out why 8 month old Optima discharges. Can't find any load, but will keep looking.
Thanks Rich

 

To figure out what is killing your battery,, first you have to know how much current your drawing when its in the sleep mode. Remove the Neg Batt Cable, insert a DC AMP meter (capable of 10-12 amps) between the neg terminal and neg cable and see what the car draws.

After 10-12 Min, you should be at 20 milliamps or less. 20 ma is the GM designed current draw in sleep mode.

Bill

 

After reading many of Bills posts I checked the alternator.My alternator began to fail and did the same thing as far as pulsing the system. It would still charge while driving but if my car sat for a day or two, the battery was dead. The alternator finally went completely. I changed it and the battery drain issue went away. Good luck and let us know if you find something new.

 

This seems to me to be more important than preparing the turkey. LOL

 

Car has set for two years. Put in a new battery and we have no power anywhere. There was a lot of nutes under the hood.where does the hot cable go when it leaves the battery? Thanks. Help!

 

What are nutes?

Charlie

 

First,, MAKE SURE that the battery cables are properly torqued to the battery (97-2003 = 11 ft/lbs)

The POSITIVE battery cables go to three different places.

To the fuse box B+ stud:



From that B+ terminal, it goes to the other fuse box in the passengers foot well.

AND

To the Starter power terminal





The battery NEGATIVE cables split and go to TWO places:

The Engine Ground Bolt on the block just above the starter (You can see the ground bolt and the ground wire in the starter pictures) and to

Chassis Ground G-104/108:





Here are the TWO schematics that you need for main power:

 

The engine compartment was full of acorns from chipmonks or squrels. Theywere laying arroumd the aircleaner and all over the intake.all this means is that there were critters around. We worked all day on it today we got the radio on once it was real low but it went off.some times we had power to the starter but it went an never enlightened to even click the starter. Were out of things to do. Help. This is a 73 verge

 

I had the reduced engine power and abs lights go off, basically everything on the dash lit up. After reading a thread here, I found out that the Delco batteries are often faulty. Mine had one and the car was 11 years old at the time. The battery looked new, but may have been a replacement over 4 years old.

Put a new battery in, problem solved.

It's been a year and a half on the new battery with no problems.

 

WOW Bill, you are the C5 guru!!!
dumb "broad" here with really smart husband who sent me here to research the problem I am having with my '02Z with>85,000 miles.
He has a '07 GS. Problem: every once in awhile (usually when I am out shopping) it won't turn over. Not consistent,erratic! I have called him to "save" me and when he shows up it starts right up "girly problem"!! Took it to our Corvette specialist who had it for 2weeks and couldn't get it to do it. The dash security lights stays on a lot. This is my daily driver. I think it may have something to do with the seat adjustment??? Last time it wouldn't start, I moved the seat all the way back and then it started?? Now the "automatic" adjustment is erratic. Just went to the P.O. turned key on and adjusted all the way up but when came back out even the adjustment on the side of seat had to press dozen times to get it moved up (I am a little lady)
I will end this book. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Hubby already checked connectors.thanks, Vikki

 

Vikki

You have more than one issue. So,,, heres the get well recommendation:

Remove the battery cables. Use a wire brush and clean the terminals and cable connectors. Reinstall and TORQUE the battery cables to the battery to 11 ft/lbs Tq Very important!

While the battery is disconnected, inspect the starter solenoid wiring. ALL the wires MUST be clean and tight!!



The seat electrical connector wiring and the female pins inside the connector area KNOWN problem areas. Its close to the carpet and gets damaged very easily. Inspect connector (male & female) inside and out for damage wires, pins and connectors. Look carefully for spread damaged female pins that make poor contact with the male pins.

Your starter issue can be complex if you don't do some basic troubleshooting. Here are some easy test!

1= The next time it will not CRANK, hold the ignition key to START,,, While you are holding it to START,,,,, press and release the clutch to activate and deactivate the clutch safety switch. Each time that you press and release that switch,,,, you should hear a RELAY in the passengers foot well CLICK on and off.

If you hear that relay click,, ALL the low current wiring necessary to operate the Theft Deterrent Relay is working!

The relay has a low current control side and a high current operating side (60 amps)

If the relay is good, it supplies 12 VDC battery voltage to the solenoid which engages the starter.

What I believe is most likely wrong. The starter solenoid is well known to hang up and fail to engage when it gets power. To test that theory,,, have someone bump the starter with a wooden dowel while you hold the key to start. If it starts after the BUMP,, the solenoid is defective:

Learn this schematic!! Its the HEART of the starter circuit






Your memory issue could be as simple as having a BAD connection at the battery. Once you do the battery maintenance, read the owners manual and reset your MEM-1 and MEM-2 settings and configure the DIC to turn on the MEMORY or EASY OUT setting.

Lets see how that plays out.

Bill

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but a bad solenoid wouldn't throw codes and cause the Security light to come on, yes?