97 s-10 problems

[cramer_77]

truck came into shop for theft recovery, (stolen radio) customer installed aftermarket radio, wiring hell you can imagine. well had to replace complete dash assy. due to broken pieces on dash. replaced dash and and now when you start the truck it idles at 2000rpm and wiper motor just makes a buzzing noise the entire time. Didn't know if anyone had some information on this problem. Is it possible that the wiring harness needed changed over? Thanks in advance.

[viggy58]

sounds like a wire in the column harness area got pinched or connected incorrectly. is it possible that the wiper control somehow got spliced into the radio harness?

also, do you mean the large 1 piece dash assembly was replaced? any components get replaced or damaged?

any codes being thrown?

[old_master]

'97 is known for bad ignition switches, they can cause all sorts of seemingly non-related things to go haywire. Might be something worthwhile to check.

[cramer_77]

thanks for all your help but after some heavy talking i got my boss to let me change out the harness. when i layed the original harness(the one that was in the truck when it came in) to the new harness(the one that came with the salvage yard dash)i noticed a few differences. So i installed the original harness back in the dash and re-installed the dash and everything worked fine. Truck idled fine, and everything worked that was suppose to. viggy58 yeah we replaced the 1 piece dash unit, when the stereo was taken the broke some of the hard black plastic where the radio bolts in. So we had to replace that due to the damage. what really makes me mad about this is cause my boss got on my case for not changing the harness over when he was the one that told me not to cause i wanted to swap it in the beginning.

[Bluesax]

What is the problem with 97 ignition switches? My truck just started to act funny. Sometimes when trying to start it, it just 'ticks' and won't turn over. But if I wait a few seconds, it starts right up. No telling when this will happen. Battery is only a few months old, all spark plugs and wires were changed a week ago. Could the problem be the switch? How do I check it? Thanks for your help.

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by Bluesax

What is the problem with 97 ignition switches? My truck just started to act funny. Sometimes when trying to start it, it just 'ticks' and won't turn over. But if I wait a few seconds, it starts right up. No telling when this will happen. Battery is only a few months old, all spark plugs and wires were changed a week ago. Could the problem be the switch? How do I check it? Thanks for your help.

Ticking sounds usually indicate a bad cable connection, either at the battery, alternator, or starter.

With the Ignition switch problem prevalent on only '97s, you'll have periods no power at all to the dash, or transmission codes will pop up, plus many other wierd symptoms. When mine went out, I had no dash lights, the gauges didn't work, couldn't shift the tranny out of park, but the engine would crank and the fuel pump would prime. Just no power (electrical) to the distributor.

[Bluesax]

Originally Posted by mike2004tct

Ticking sounds usually indicate a bad cable connection, either at the battery, alternator, or starter.

With the Ignition switch problem prevalent on only '97s, you'll have periods no power at all to the dash, or transmission codes will pop up, plus many other wierd symptoms. When mine went out, I had no dash lights, the gauges didn't work, couldn't shift the tranny out of park, but the engine would crank and the fuel pump would prime. Just no power (electrical) to the distributor.

So, if I'm just having the intermittent starting problem (the ticking, won't crank), after I check the cables should I do anything with the ignition switch? Replace? Check? Also, all these problems are related to a bad switch? Wow. What did Chevy do in 1997?