Possessed Electrical System - '92 LeSabre
motorwiz
08-31-2005, 11:42 AM
I seem to have a similar problem as 2 earlier posts (Freida and Urbancaveman) unfortunately no one had a suggested fix.
On a '92 LeSabre, I plugged a spotlight into the cigarette lighter and instantly the electrical system acts as though it were possessed.
Interior lights are always on when ignition is on, when the car is started the heater switch turns on in the defrost mode, and the radio loses it's settings when ignition is turned off.
Any ideas as to a solution? Thanks, Barry
On a '92 LeSabre, I plugged a spotlight into the cigarette lighter and instantly the electrical system acts as though it were possessed.
Interior lights are always on when ignition is on, when the car is started the heater switch turns on in the defrost mode, and the radio loses it's settings when ignition is turned off.
Any ideas as to a solution? Thanks, Barry
kok328
08-31-2005, 05:47 PM
My :2cents: , the spotlight overheated the power wire to the cigarette lighter and it burned through to other wires where your having the problems. Trace the hot wire from behind the lighter and repair as necessary. I'm kinda suprised you haven't blown the fuse.
spinne1
08-31-2005, 10:13 PM
My :2cents: , the spotlight overheated the power wire to the cigarette lighter and it burned through to other wires where your having the problems. Trace the hot wire from behind the lighter and repair as necessary. I'm kinda suprised you haven't blown the fuse.
I agree. I think you are going to have to disassemble the dash to reach all the affected wiring. Keep in mind the following: all the dash wiring goes to a single large block style plastic connector. The large connector is located under the dash to the right of the steering wheel and up a bit. ALL dash wiring goes to this connector. How does that help you? Well, if you knew what wires were having trouble, you could technically splice new wires from their sources to this point. To find which wires are fused together or messed up though you must remove most of the dash. Why? The wires run from each component on the dash to a main vein of wrapped wire and then to the large connector and accessing the wires from the front side of the dash is basically impossible, as is doing it from below the dash. You are looking at a major pain in the butt job, but it IS doable. I've completely disassembled the dash on my 92 to trace and repair various electrical gremlins and was able to finally succeed. It is a long process and organization is vital [ie. lots of labeled ziplocs with screws and such, a detailed notebook with each step noted and numbered along with decent sketches (or digital photos) or each step so you can reput things as they were. You will generally NOT be able to reassemble the dash correctly from memory (but you could get it close enough to function.....).
Some tidbits to help you: there is a relay in the passenger side relay center (under the dash and behind the black plastic under dash cover) which controls the interior lights. Remove the relay and you will have no interior lights. (Which one is it?...well, removing the right one will kill your interior lights) Testing each of these wires might help narrow down which wire or wires is bad among this symptom. Note that all wires to this relay are orange if I remember correctly.
As for the defrost issue, this is a known issue and flaw for Lesabre's of this vintage and has nothing to do directly with your spotlight fiasco. The fix for this can be found by signing up for Alldata's information on the 92 Lesabre, and then searching for it in the Heat/AC system information.
As for the radio, it has at least one wire running to it which has power all the time (key off), and this wire is probably shorted out (with the time settings, etc.) I do not know off the top of my head which wire this is, but it is not the white or blue harness with four wires each (these are for the speakers). There are two other harnesses. One has only one green wire (at least on mine). This green wire goes to another harness that is blue and brown and has ten wires in it and which harness is directly behind the dimmer interior light control (thus controls the light on the radio), and then also to the large connector, 4th column from the left, 6th row down (if you pulled the large connector and looked at the dash half). Another way to spot on the large connector is it's directly below a dark blue wire in the same column. Note for orientation that the two plastic wings or nubs that stick out are at the top of the block looking at it.
The other power harness on the radio has six wires. The black is ground. Ignore it. If it was shorted, the radio would not work at all. You have also green, grey, pink, orange, and yellow wires. The green is thicker and is on the large connector: 4th column from right, 7th row down. Orange: 4th from left column, 4th row down (and it also goes to both the dimmer harness, and the instrument cluster harness). Grey: goes to many harnesses, and to the 4th column from right, 3rd row down. Pink: 3rd column from left, 3rd row down. Yellow: 3rd column from left, 12th row down.
What to do with this info? You want to get a multimeter and set it to Ohms (or resistance) and put one end at the wire at the radio harness for each of the wires in the above six wire harness, while the other at the corresponding other end of the wire at the large connector based on my map info above and see if the resistance = 0 ohms (meaning that the wire is intact). If any read infinite resistance you have found your shorted wire. Splice in a replacement.
Note that for the above radio test you do not need to fully dissamble the dash, but simply need to access the radio harnesses and the large dash block connector, which you may be able to access and remove from under the dash (albeit not easily).
Good luck!
I agree. I think you are going to have to disassemble the dash to reach all the affected wiring. Keep in mind the following: all the dash wiring goes to a single large block style plastic connector. The large connector is located under the dash to the right of the steering wheel and up a bit. ALL dash wiring goes to this connector. How does that help you? Well, if you knew what wires were having trouble, you could technically splice new wires from their sources to this point. To find which wires are fused together or messed up though you must remove most of the dash. Why? The wires run from each component on the dash to a main vein of wrapped wire and then to the large connector and accessing the wires from the front side of the dash is basically impossible, as is doing it from below the dash. You are looking at a major pain in the butt job, but it IS doable. I've completely disassembled the dash on my 92 to trace and repair various electrical gremlins and was able to finally succeed. It is a long process and organization is vital [ie. lots of labeled ziplocs with screws and such, a detailed notebook with each step noted and numbered along with decent sketches (or digital photos) or each step so you can reput things as they were. You will generally NOT be able to reassemble the dash correctly from memory (but you could get it close enough to function.....).
Some tidbits to help you: there is a relay in the passenger side relay center (under the dash and behind the black plastic under dash cover) which controls the interior lights. Remove the relay and you will have no interior lights. (Which one is it?...well, removing the right one will kill your interior lights) Testing each of these wires might help narrow down which wire or wires is bad among this symptom. Note that all wires to this relay are orange if I remember correctly.
As for the defrost issue, this is a known issue and flaw for Lesabre's of this vintage and has nothing to do directly with your spotlight fiasco. The fix for this can be found by signing up for Alldata's information on the 92 Lesabre, and then searching for it in the Heat/AC system information.
As for the radio, it has at least one wire running to it which has power all the time (key off), and this wire is probably shorted out (with the time settings, etc.) I do not know off the top of my head which wire this is, but it is not the white or blue harness with four wires each (these are for the speakers). There are two other harnesses. One has only one green wire (at least on mine). This green wire goes to another harness that is blue and brown and has ten wires in it and which harness is directly behind the dimmer interior light control (thus controls the light on the radio), and then also to the large connector, 4th column from the left, 6th row down (if you pulled the large connector and looked at the dash half). Another way to spot on the large connector is it's directly below a dark blue wire in the same column. Note for orientation that the two plastic wings or nubs that stick out are at the top of the block looking at it.
The other power harness on the radio has six wires. The black is ground. Ignore it. If it was shorted, the radio would not work at all. You have also green, grey, pink, orange, and yellow wires. The green is thicker and is on the large connector: 4th column from right, 7th row down. Orange: 4th from left column, 4th row down (and it also goes to both the dimmer harness, and the instrument cluster harness). Grey: goes to many harnesses, and to the 4th column from right, 3rd row down. Pink: 3rd column from left, 3rd row down. Yellow: 3rd column from left, 12th row down.
What to do with this info? You want to get a multimeter and set it to Ohms (or resistance) and put one end at the wire at the radio harness for each of the wires in the above six wire harness, while the other at the corresponding other end of the wire at the large connector based on my map info above and see if the resistance = 0 ohms (meaning that the wire is intact). If any read infinite resistance you have found your shorted wire. Splice in a replacement.
Note that for the above radio test you do not need to fully dissamble the dash, but simply need to access the radio harnesses and the large dash block connector, which you may be able to access and remove from under the dash (albeit not easily).
Good luck!
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