electrical issue....

[s14unimog]

So I was curious if any of you s13 guys have ever had this or something similar. The car is an automatic, if that changes anything, and I've noticed when the car is off (no key) the electronics do not seem to work, (lights, gages, heater, etc...). Also nothing seems to work if the car is cold for the first few minutes. I'll be driving down the road with nothing electronically working in the cabin and then all of the sudden everything turns on.


Anybody have any suggestions?>

[k2fender]

Nothing working when the cars off sounds like a constant 12v problem. The electronics arent getting power from your battery. I'd check the dash harness. Could be a grounding problem or something shorted out. You'll have to pull the dash, but you should find something to fix your problem back there.

[s14unimog]

yeah it's probably the altenator that is running everything once the car gets moving, I wonder if my battery is even hooked to anything other than the starter

[ledzeppelin240]

Hmmm...Check your grounds, if the battery was not connected to anything else but the alt. which is quite hard cause then someone has bypassed all the factory wiring, then nothing in your car ever work.

[g6civcx]

With the key out, gauges and blower do not power. Only lights work with no key.

I suspect a loose harness somewhere. Vibration is pulling the wires apart.

I would try to do is look at the entire body harness all the way from the battery into the passenger compartment. Try wiggling the harness slightly with your hand to see if the lights cut out.

Also check your front left fender harness for cut wires.