yet another electrical problem

[JerzyIroc]

(87 iroc 350tpi) so i was driving home last night and the car shut off. right by the battery there are two wires with a fuse at the end (25amp). its not on the battery or anything i think it actually comes from and returns inside the car. it's only supposed to have power when the ignition on. without the fuse in it the fuel pump wont turn on. well it keeps blowing the fuse as soon as i put a fuse in it whether the ignition is on off off. what the hell are those wires for?? i lost my damn chilton book cuz im an idiot. anyone know what wires im talking about? if i can find out what its supplying power to then ill have a better idea as to where to start.

[BonzoHansen]

Wire Diagrams: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=19

There should be (IIRC) 2 primary leads going to the starter (along with the +cable & purple starter lead). Those 2 wires have fusible links at the end where they attached to the starter at the positive cable. They should not have fuses. What do you have?

[JerzyIroc]

nah its not those. i know which wires youre talking about. i actually had to change the fusible links on them a little while back. its another one. i have an 87 iroc with a 350tpi. it originally had a 305 tpi.

[BonzoHansen]

Are they GM's work? I've never seen fuses by the battery.

[JerzyIroc]

lol ya its classic random gm at its best. i actually wanna thank you for posting that site cuz i think i just figured it out.

So you say your car doesn't start because you don't have fuel to the injectors?
And I assume you cycled the key on and listened for the fuel pump priming whine and didn't hear anything?


First things first: check the main fuse by the battery. It's a single fuse in a plastic fuse holder. It might actually look a little like an unplugged connector. It will have an orange wire and a red wire going to it. (on older models, the wire color might differ)

Next thing you can check is the fuel pump relay. It looks like the fan (or MAF) relays and is located in the engine compartment, on the firewall, in the corner right by the brake booster.
Unplug the relay.
Identify the wires on the connector:
- an orange wire (might be actually pink/black on some old models) that supplies 12V power
- ared wire (or could be also orange on some models) which you can ignore right now
- a grey wire (or tan/white on older models) which powers the fuel pump
- one thinner black/white wire for the ground
- one thin green/white wire from the ECM



thats off the site you just linked me to. in bold is the fuse i was talking about. i did notice a little while back that the wires on the harness for the fuel pump relay was kinda loose. so it would explain the short. im gonna check it out and hopefully thats it.