wiring messed up

[Espey98]

I have taken my 99 Chevy Prizm to be looked at because everytime you turn the lights, the airconditioner, and the hazards on, it dies. The mechanic says it's a wiring problem but the labor itself will become expensive because they have to find it first. Any suggestions on where to look? PLEASE!!!!!!!

[smokey041369]

first have your alternator tested or start the car and disconnect the positive battery cable if it dies the alternator needs to be replaced

[cm1176]

I am having the same problem with my prism it is crazy. i have numerous electrical things messed up. including it dying out when you turn on anything. the alternator is bad. but the drl control mod is bad, and finally it quit starting. But if i pull the ECU-IG fuse the car will start again, but wont run for long. I have numerous wires and connectors that i've traced showing short to ground.. I have even tried the Teche 2 it wont read tells me to also change the ignition and check ECU and a few other things. I tried by starting to change the DRL control mod. That was melted (but no fuses or relays bad) it was the 1st thing i found fried. NOT a GOOD thing to do. new one now fried. I am about to light the car on fire. any suggestions because im really tired for replacing $100.00 parts and frying them. thanks for any help ...

[johnholl]

Originally Posted by cm1176

I am having the same problem with my prism it is crazy. i have numerous electrical things messed up. including it dying out when you turn on anything. the alternator is bad. but the drl control mod is bad, and finally it quit starting. But if i pull the ECU-IG fuse the car will start again, but wont run for long. I have numerous wires and connectors that i've traced showing short to ground.. I have even tried the Teche 2 it wont read tells me to also change the ignition and check ECU and a few other things. I tried by starting to change the DRL control mod. That was melted (but no fuses or relays bad) it was the 1st thing i found fried. NOT a GOOD thing to do. new one now fried. I am about to light the car on fire. any suggestions because im really tired for replacing $100.00 parts and frying them. thanks for any help ...

Unless you have a complete wiring diagram and a good understanding of electronic control systems you shouldn't be tracing circuits. The current supplied by some circuit tracers may damage the processor. The connectors that are showing "shorted to ground" MUST be disconnected at both ends to obtain acurate open or shorted conditions.

Why consider working on the electrical system without first replacing the faulty alternator?

[cm1176]

finally after replacing the generator, pcm, and the drl control module.

i tested all shorts to ground and all were okay. thought i had it fixed. it was running fine. for a few min. till i was testing all the previous things. like turning on blinkers, ac, and finally the lights. the lights and fan kicking on caused yet another drl control mod. to fry.

i finally got fed up and studied the manuals for the ground distribution and power distribution and individual power cells. and took off thebumper, fender, dash board. then began tracing wires still unable to find the problem. also checked all the ground wires, battery.
the problems i noticed were the headlamps being turned on killed the car. the ac and fans killed the car, and the blinkers killed the car depending on which and if the park lamps were plugged in..and the brake light on dash would come on.

all this trouble i cut open all wiring hornest and started tracing all the grounds and power wires for these components that they had in common. hello..... the problem. grounding sp254 under the dash lower left side behind junction blocks had all burnt wires except two that were still connected. and amazingly one of the ground wires off that splice pack which included a ground wire from each component. contained a jumper ground wire to the c203 inline connector which hello to me . had a power wire from every component. the inline connector c203 is attached to junction block 1 it is orange in color. best of luck if you have the same year model 1998 /1999. and the exact same problem.

yes if you have any questions i do have the 3 service manuals from the dealership for a couple more weeks.