I had the cylinder heads changed on my 1989 Camaro 305 TBI. Now at key on position (F/P FAN C/H Fuse 20a blows). Problem occured once job was done. Play by play: Car started...ran for several minutes... added coolant... turned the car off. Turned it on, bam-fuse blew. Help.

 

so I re-wired the grounds to the back of the motor, changed the ugly looking fuel pump relay pigtail, and relay. changed the fan relay pigtail. Still blows the fuse when ignition is turned to the on position. There are two wires coming from that fuse ( one skinny BROWN wire, and one slightly thicker ORANGE wire.) I know that the brown turns to the tan/white wire that goes to the altenator, and fuel pump relay. Where does the orange wire connect to? How many electrical parts go connected to this fuse? The wiring diagram in a Chilton manual i own is not too clear. Someone please help. Running low on faith. Car has not been driven since September 2010. Something simple is blowing this fuse, I know it. I dont want to have to get rid of the car beacause of my lack of patience.

 

Where it has been sitting for months

 

 

The orange wire is power IN... Leave it alone. The brown wire goes to the FAN relay, not the fuel pump relay (relay coil power).

Check around the valve covers to see if any wires were pinched and cut when the covers were put back on. Other than that, you'll want to pull the relay, both to check for a short to ground in the connector (probe the terminal on the brown wire) and to see if the fuse blows with the relay removed (short in the relay). Also check the wires under the relay to make sure the insulation hasn't come off and is allowing the wires to contact each other.

 

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. I will check that. I never did change the fan relay. I just changed the pigtail. Thats what I thought. Why now only once I changed the heads would it start doing that. Has to be a wire around there. All i did was change the heads, temp sensor and fan switch. Changed the intake and intake sensor. Changed the distributor to fit the intake distributer hole, and all gaskets. Other than that everything is the same.

 

worked on the car. checked the wires around the motor... put some electrical tape on some exposed wires, i changed the insulation. Didnt check the wires that went to the single fan yet.(is not connected) Checked to see if the fuse would blow... still blows. What else do I check. I removed an old alarm system... removed some wires. Where do a thick purple wire and a thick orange wire go to? because when not connected.. No crank at start up.

 

the only large purple wire i know of is the nuetral safety switch which goes on the starter

 

Should be no orange wire in the starting circuit after the ignition switch... Generally, alarm systems cut the yellow wire because it's more accessible (purple wire is only after the neutral switch and/or the clutch start switch). Not sure what the orange wire is for, but there is probably another end to the purple wire that is cut. Seems that the wire was cut for the starter disable relay, and now you need to put it back together to get the starter going again.

 

 

yes. thats one of the first things i tried thanks to the other thread you replied to.

 

I dont know where else to look. I noticed some black gunk like material inside connections under the brake booster. Is that suppose to be like that? I kind of want to get a motorcycle now. I cant seem to get this car on the road or a decent machanic to save my life. ****! thank you guys for your help though. Its just frustrating.

 

Is there a wiring diagram for these 89 305 TBI's. I've seen threads that show a connection going to the instrument cluster. I just want to know which wires I should check, to know which ones I still need to check for this F/P FAN C/H fuse.

 

Yes, to answer the question you asked before, that black crud is supposed to be in the C100 to weatherproof the terminals. It's a pain to get out of there to repin anything and gets all over the place because it's so sticky.

And yes, there is a connection to the instrument cluster from the alternator, but it's not on the FAN fuse (comes off of the GAGES fuse for power to the L terminal on the regulator). (Scratch that unless Chilton's is as wrong as I think they are)

About the only thing left you can do, since you've tried pretty much everything else, is to disconnect the C100 and the C207 under the passenger's side of the dash (by the ECM, black on one side and clear on the other) and pull the engine harness out. Make sure you label everything before/if you do this. Then remove the loom and visually inspect the brown wire. Other than that, look for something shorting out on the back of the fuse panel and check the wiring between it and the C100 under the dash (will need to cut the tape covering the harness).

 

tried to connect the purple wire to the existing purple wire under the dash, and the existing yellow wire to the yellow wire going to the steering colum. The engine didnt crank. the only way it does crank is if i connect the purple and yellow wires together with a relay. As seen in these pictures i took. How would I go about connecting it like if it was stock?

 

Here are those pictures.

 

You have an 89, the first year for the factory anti theft system. If the system isn't working properly, the starter won't crank (VATS enables the starter, it doesn't disable it like aftermarket systems do). Is the SECURITY light in the dash on?

 

No. The car does start having that relay hooked up like that. But when i hook it up the factory way it doesnt. The alarm system looks aftermarket. The whole alarm wiring is off... but not this relay, its the only way i've found for the car to actually start.

 

The reason it doesn't work with the factory way is because VATS isn't enabling the starter... With the wires connected like that (with the relay), you're bypassing the factory enable relay, so of course the car will start. Either the factory relay is bad or the VATS system is disabling the starter due to either a malfunction or bad key.

Oh, and the VATS module is either bolted to the center HVAC air duct down towards the convenience center or to the HVAC heater core cover on the passenger's side, not sure about the 89s or the Camaro (Birds have it on the air duct). The enable relay has the wiring coming out of the wiring harness that runs down the steering column to connect to the ignition switch and the headlight dimmer switch, will have thick yellow and dark green wires attached.

 

ok... update on the progress of my project. Last week we got the car started... ran beautifly... changed the oil. Hooked up the fan directly to the battery, and ran the car for about 45 minutes in park... temp gauge stayed just above half the whole time. Next day decided to drive the car from my dads to my apartment... straight highway. Drove the car to the nearest gas station and put air in the tires. Then started driving it on the highway... got three miles and then it started overheating. Pulled to the side of the highway and noticed coolant spilling everywhere. Once the car had cooled I noticed the lower radiator hose clamp to the water pump was loose. WHAT THE **** RIGHT!!?! Retightened it and added water to crawl it back on side streets to my dads.

 

update... took off the thermostat, filled the radiator with water, and turned on the car now the temp gauge stays just above the first marker, way below the half when the car is on and in park. running cold. in sa the weather has been at 101 for a month i think. is this bad? I thought that there had to be a thermosat? Is the cold temp normal?