2001 Electrical Issue

[ochy38]

hello everybody.I asked this in a different forum so im just gonna copy and paste it here:
This is about my girlfriends car. She drives a 01 cavalier, i forget what engine off the top of my head i think its the 2.2l but im not sure. She was having electrical issues a few days ago and im kinda confused as to what it is.

She said that she began driving to work and everything was kosher, until maybe 10 minutes into the trip. The roads were kinda slushy, and whenever she hit the brakes and the ABS kicked in, the radio turned off and the lights dimmed. It was apparently fine unless she hit the ABS, in which case that happened. So she parks her car and turns if off, and the chime starts going off in a wierd fashion, and the gauges start twitching (this is with the car off). eventually I drive to her work and have to jump her car about 4 hours later because the chime and gauges kill the battery. When i get there its still doing its thing, but the second i put the cables on the battery (without them connected to the other car) it stops. Car starts up fine and I drive it for an hour and i can't get it to do anything.

Apparently after she drops me off at home it starts doing it again, but this time all of the idiot lights came on the dash.

I drive it for about an hour later that night, and i cant get it to do anything. And, wouldnt you know it, the second i pull into the driveway, the ABS kicks in, the radio shuts off, the lights dim. So I start driving it and its fine unless the ABS goes. Then, i was driving in a straight line, only touching the gas, and the car just shuts off and everything goes dark (the headlight switch is on, but the headlights shut off and the backlighting of the gauges is off). about 2 seconds later the electronics come back on, and all of the idiot lights come on for a sec, and after pulling off to the side of the road im able to turn the car back on and drive away.

I took another look at it yesturday after she complained that she smelled "burning" the day before. I popped the hood and there is definitely a short somewhere, i can smell burning wires. I just cant pinpoint where, seems like the front of the engine somewhere. The check engine and "trac off" lights are now on all the time.. is there a certain wire somewhere that would affect the trac control on the front of the engine? Anybody got any ideas?

[ochy38]

anybody have an idea?

[lxndr]

Start with the simple stuff; check the alternator then check the battery. Check that the alternator is putting out proper voltage and make sure the battery terminals are clean and tight. Most autoparts stores will check these parts for free.

Low or high voltage and loose connections will do strange things to electronics.

[COP TZR]

check front harness, very common to short out, loose headlights, etc...GM sells replacement section.