When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I bought a camaro and i am trying to figure out what all of these wires and stuff is.. If someone can help me it would be nice
What is the relay for? What is the white connector next to my hand to?
The only two wires coming from the white connector.. Right side footwell area.. what is it for?
What is the green connector/box thing for?
What is this round connector to?
What is this connector for? It only has one wire, the other two are cut.. It is close to stereo harness
What is the yellow cut wire? And the orange thin one?
Last edited by danijohansen87; 10-17-2021 at 01:56 PM.
Typical "custom" stereo "installation". Looks like Skillet was "cleaning up the wiring". Happens more often than we might be willing to admit. Remember that next time you get the "urge" to "clean up the engine bay". :barf:
First off, the light greenish box thing, is your Check Engine Light driver module. Leave it alone for the time being.
Next, the large white plug with not many wires in it, it related to the ECM. Leave it alone for the time being. Except, I don't see an ECM, or the big plugs and harness that go to it, so that might have already been butchered out. Who knows. Leave it alone for the time being.
The thing with the light blue & light green wires looks like has to do with a speaker. Leave it alone for the time being
The connector with the orange, white, & grey wires has something to do with the console, and its lights. Orange = battery; white = dome lights (the bulbs have orange-wire battery on one side, and light up when the white wire is grounded, such as by one of the switches in the door jambs), grey = dash lights (shifter backlight for example). Leave it alone for the time being.
The round white plug with the orange (battery) and black (ground) wire is for the cigarette lighter. You'd have figured that out anyway when you see a cigarette lighter. Leave it alone for the time being, at least until you get a cigarette lighter to hook it to.
The white, green, & grey wire harness goes to the power antenna. The little black box that they come from is the power antenna relay. I'll bet you'll NEVER guess what my advice about that is going to be.
The thing that looks like a mailbox laid on its side is a vacuum reservoir. Leave it alone for the time being. You'll be needing that eventually.
The photo with all the butt splices, scotchlocks, cut wires, etc. is the stereo wiring. Somebody made that part of the car bend over, grab its ankles, and make a new friend. It's illegal in some states even still in 2021.
Aside from the sodomy around the stereo wiring, most of it looks pretty normal, except that somebody has cut off the tape and whatnot, so that it turned from a harness into a bird's nest and steel wool. Use some patience, and NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT your dykes, and you'll be able to get it squared away pretty eeeeeezzzzzy.
What does the back side of the dash look like?
Last edited by sofakingdom; 10-17-2021 at 04:42 PM.
Since, as Sofa noted, there is no ECM, it was either a Canadian export car (which had no ECM from the factory) or it's been butchered out. There are threads in the "history" section here I think that talk about the early third gens for Canadian export having no CCC (and thus no ECM). A few shots of what's on it for a carb (hopefully a NON CCC one) and a few good shots of the distributor will be telling as to what some of your next moves should be. Please don't take this as me being a dick, but, what you've got there is NOT a job for a novice at car wiring, putting all that back right will take at least an intermediate if not expert level automotive electrician.
Well, since it has the CEL driver, it MUST have had an ECM at one time or another. So it was probably a US car. Please note, I said "probably"; not "definitely" or anything of the kind.
A great deal of buggery has gone on of which that car is the victim. No problem though, we can help get the parts working that need to, in spite of whatever organs got stolen in a bath of ice water after someone slipped it a mickey finn.
Well, since it has the CEL driver, it MUST have had an ECM at one time or another. So it was probably a US car. Please note, I said "probably"; not "definitely" or anything of the kind.
A great deal of buggery has gone on of which that car is the victim. No problem though, we can help get the parts working that need to, in spite of whatever organs got stolen in a bath of ice water after someone slipped it a mickey finn.
A great point indeed on the CEL driver, , , , yep, it's been effed big time, but with enough time and money it can be restored to it's former glory....
Looks like a chrome air cleaner on the motor looking through the windshield so I'd guess most of the original control and sensor wiring is gone. Probably need to get a wiring diagram, take one circuit at a time and do a major rewire.
Avoid "major rewire" at all costs. That's EXACTLY what you're looking at right now: LEARN.
Buy a pack of small tie-wraps at the home improvement store. Tie up the wires together that look like they're headed in the same direction. Cut them (the tie-wraps... NOT the wires) as you finesse it.
Above all, PUT DOWN YOUR DYKES. Avoid the temptation to cut ANYTHING. DON'T "clean up" ANYTHING. Just, de-rat's-nest it. You might be amazed at how far THAT ALONE will take you.
Again, NO "MAJOR REWIRE". There's not much wrong with what's in your photos, except that it's all exploded. There is NO NEED to cut or destroy or remove or "clean up" anything. The only actual "damage" I can see is in the region of the radio. (and of course, the missing ECM, ... but that can wait for the moment)
Above all, PUT DOWN YOUR DYKES. Avoid the temptation to cut ANYTHING. DON'T "clean up" ANYTHING. Just, de-rat's-nest it. You might be amazed at how far THAT ALONE will take you.
+1, re-bundle and organize what you have. Sometimes I take things a step further and as I identify each wire, I write out what the wire is for on masking tape and attach it to the wire.
Other than necessary splices needed to repair damaged wires, I only ended up cutting out exactly 1 wire from my fan harness wiring nightmare, and it was because it was added (incorrectly) by the previous owner. But, I only knew to do that after spending a lot of time learning about what I had, and what it was supposed to look like. The factory shop manual was a great tool for me, it has complete electrical schematics and illustrations of the factory locations for stuff.
What is the relay for? What is the white connector next to my hand to?
The relay may be for a power antenna, but that is a SWAG. The white connector is C206, and is used to interface between the ECM harness and the dash harness.
What is the green connector/box thing for?
What is this round connector to?
The green box is the lamp driver module for the SES/CEL dash light. The CCC cars had them. The round white connector is likely the cigar lighter socket connector. Black for ground, and the orange is full time battery power.
I can't help with the rest. If you can hit ebay and find a factory service manual (FSM) that will go a long way in helping out.
Thanks a lot guys! That is why i love this forum - many people with a lot of knowledge! Sorry for my bad english, from Norway you know
Regarding the ECM, my car has a 350 small block with carburetor on it.. I think it has been swapped because these cars were TPI engines originally..?
Does anyone have any more tips about the vacuum routing to the heater? I gonna put my dash back on tonight, so maybe a good idea to fix the wires and hoses first I was told that the black box on the last picture was a vacuum box and that there should be a hose from it to the heater system.. also from the box to the engine.. does anyone have picture of this? There were also some talk about a vacuum check valve or something.. anyone who knows?
Inside my car i found a push/pull type of switch (electric). This switch is connected to some sort of vacuum-valve-thingy inside engine bay. From there there are wires goin across the firewall and inside the car at passenger side and in to, and this is nuts, the WHITE CONNECTOR i asked about earlier (ECM?). Can please someone tell we what is going on? I have some pictures of it and i draw a diagram.. What is the valve for? Why do you think someone has hooked up a switch to it? Does anyone have pinout diagram for ECM? Thanks in advance
The vaccum valve/switch thing with vacuum hose to engine Connector from the "valve" (see drawing) The ECM contact with the blue and green wire coming from the vacuum switch thing and the switch inside the car (see drawing) The switch inside the car This is how it is hooked up..
But the strange thing is that there are only one vacuum hose.. from the engine and to the «valve» with the electrical wires. Why? What does the switch do? How can vacuum be controlled by electricity? I do understand if there were a second vacum hose going another direction so the valve opend or closed something.. but here it is ONE vacuum hose to the «valve» and it stops there.. i do not understand why..
But the strange thing is that there are only one vacuum hose.. from the engine and to the «valve» with the electrical wires. Why? What does the switch do? How can vacuum be controlled by electricity? I do understand if there were a second vacum hose going another direction so the valve opend or closed something.. but here it is ONE vacuum hose to the «valve» and it stops there.. i do not understand why..
Maybe they were trying to manually control the air induction system?
Don't worry about it now. It's GARBAGE. Get rid of it, un-hack the car, and don't get too wound up in being mystified over the stupidity of HUMANS.
Just when you think you've seen it all, I guarantee you, something will come along that will restore your faith in the lack of intelligence in the general public.
That whole relay thing going on above the brake pedal looks kinda "custom" too. Might want to investigate that a bit more.
But how?? With only ONE vacuum hose to the engine and nothing more, how could they control anything?
TCC lockup on non-ECM cars had a vacuum switch. It unlocked the TCC when the engine was under load. The square 4-pin connector you are holding next to the vacuum switch lkely goes to the transmission for electrical TCC control.
You really need a FSM to sort through what you have.
TCC lockup on non-ECM cars had a vacuum switch. It unlocked the TCC when the engine was under load. The square 4-pin connector you are holding next to the vacuum switch lkely goes to the transmission for electrical TCC control.
You really need a FSM to sort through what you have.
The FSM was published by the factory for dealerships to use. It has detailed diagrams of every system in the car - your exact car by model and year, wiring schematics, and all sorts of other things that those cheeeeeeep "universal" aftermarket ones don't.
The FSM was published by the factory for dealerships to use. It has detailed diagrams of every system in the car - your exact car by model and year, wiring schematics, and all sorts of other things that those cheeeeeeep "universal" aftermarket ones don't.
Alright, thanks again. I will try to find one online Really good to have you to help me out, thank you!
TCC lockup on non-ECM cars had a vacuum switch. It unlocked the TCC when the engine was under load. The square 4-pin connector you are holding next to the vacuum switch likely goes to the transmission for electrical TCC control.
100%.
The car was a non-ECM equipped car from the factory,... that's why both sides of the C207 connectors have just 2 wires for that vacuum switch/solenoid.
The Vacuum switch/solenoid is factory GM installed on non-ECM cars to control Transmission Torque Converter Lock-Up. GM used a similar system on the mid-eighties vans too. IIRC the vacuum line on the Vacuum switch connected to a Carb ( ported? ) vacuum source causing the lock up to engage / disengage. I once installed this factory set-up on a car I pulled the ECM from ( then installed Edelbrock carb and non CCC distributor ) & connected a light bulb to the Solenoid wiring so I could literally see when lock-up was activated / deactivated and believe I documented the vacuum controlled TCC its function here on TGO in years past.
US ebay is the usual best source. Not "the only"; just, usually the most likely.
Might have to watch for awhile before one pops up. But sooner or later, one most likely will.
AFAIK for a car that old (over a decade before data CDs became commonplace, and 2 decades before "online") it almost certainly will be paper. It's 8½" × 11", around 2" thick, maybe 1000 pages or so, wiring diagrams fold out to about 2 feet wide, weighs about 4 lbs. Makes the Haynes look like a kiddie book. You might find where somebody has scanned it and put it up electronically somehow, but I don't think you'll be too happy with that.
Last edited by sofakingdom; 10-20-2021 at 01:29 PM.
Does anyone know where to buy only the washer pump for this? Or where i can buy the whole thing? I can only find the motor by itself and the circuitboard by itself. I also find a lot of "universal" pumps, but no one looks like the one in the picture.
But, i got one more question for you: What is this plug for? It is underneath the steering..
Odds are it goes to a brake pedal switch. It is used to provide power to the transmission for TCC lockup. Hit the brake pedal and the switch opens making sure the TCC unlocks (as long as the solenoid is good)..
PNK/BLK is hot with key-on, PRP goes on to the trans.
10-17-2021 | 01:48 PM
So it was probably a US car. Please note, I said "probably"; not "definitely" or anything of the kind.
