wiper/radio issue; intermittently working

[bokey]

Well this has been an intermittent issue since I have gotten the car. The radio will shut off (as in all power to it is cut). When the radio goes out, the wipers don't work (obviously both are on the same circuit).

I know that this is not a fuse issue because the wipers and the radio works most of the time. It also seems that when the key is turned on in accessory the radio will always work fine, as will the wipers. I noticed that when the radio/wipers are not working my voltage will increase by 3 or so volts... I'm assuimg this is just because less power is being used...

Thanks in advance

[Tru2Chevy]

Is this in the GTA, or your Jeep?

- Justin

[bokey]

GTA

[bokey]

any body?

[BonzoHansen]

Maybe the ign switch is on it's way out. I'd have to look at a wiring diagram.

[bokey]

if the ignition switch was on its way out wouldn't I have issues with starting the car

[BonzoHansen]

Not necessarily right away. There are a bunch of contacts in it.

[bokey]

hmm.. that I've never heard of before

Has anybody else seen/heard/had this happen before?

[BonzoHansen]

It’s a matter of finding what the circuits have in common, ignoring the possibility of sheer coincidence. I can’t think of anywhere else off the top of my head where the radio circuit + the wiper circuit might intersect. One might say the fusible link at the starter, but links are not intermittent (unless the wire is loose, but even then the jump in resistance would likely blow the link out in a short time), and often impact more, like the car running & starting. The ignition switch controls power to a lot of circuits and contacts can wear out. I had one that would give me weird intermittent issues. Those are hard to find. It is way easier if it just dies.

I need to find a good wiring diagram for that car and see how those circuits run. I’ll see what I have on the shelf. This is why everyone should buy manuals, LOL.

[bokey]

thanks for explaining that; I feel like a better person now lol

is it usually a pain in the balls to switch it out, or just take it out unplug, plug back in, drink a beer?

[BonzoHansen]

Closer to B....but I wouldn't change it until you had a chance to really troubleshoot it.

[jamessr]

If its intermittent it could be a grounding issue. If your radio and wipers share a common ground maybe I dunno. You could always pull your deck out, ground it right inside nice and tight. Worth a shot

[bokey]

that's what i was going to look at first. The guy that had it before did a real good job of jerry rigging some things, one of which being the radio. I'll probably end up taking a look at it tonight.

I also noticed that when the radio/wipers don't work, the lights won't pop up. ...I'm thinking that the ignition coil could be a good possibility, but i'll have to do a little more work to see whats up

Thanks for all your help so far!

[BonzoHansen]

Ignition coil??? No, no relation. Then the car wouldn't run. You mean ignition switch?

Too many weird circutis involved. I'll see what the haynes manual shows.

[bokey]

---thats what I mean long day when I wrote that lol

...Well, now it seems that NONE of my interior accessories work. Gonna do some tracing today after work and see what I can find. Possibly a bad ground -- I'll post what happens

::knock on wood:: hopefully I'll find out what it is today because since the cooling fan was hooked into the fuse box to an accessory wire they didn't work so now it is just jerry rigged into the positive wire on the amp ... i know... one big mess