torads

Here is my problem. The car starts fine (well not fine but I don't think it ever did as long as I've had it.) I personally think 82 toyotas fromt he scrap yard still start better than mine but that's a different topic)It's a 95 cavalier, My emergency brake light , seatbelt light, abs and my daytime running light flickers on and off intermitenly. Also when im driving the radio turns off and on and the wipers are much slower than usual. i have now a new battery, alternator and have a new instrument cluster (I have not installed yet) as the shop said that this was my problem. I have a weird feeling that when i change the cluster I will have not solved anything. the car is worth nothing but i am now over $300 in without solving the problem. I think it is possibly a bad ground to the chassis or something like that. the problem is that I know nothing about cars, I'm just good at searching the web for similar problems. Can anyone help me locate all the grounds that I will need to check excluding the connections to the battery as they are new and have been checked.

Battery to block (where?)
block to chassis (where?)

any others?

Once i check these and still have a problem, then I will go ahead and remove the dash and change the instrument cluster.
One more thing when I'm changing the cluster I will disconnect the negative battery cable but how do unplug the airbags? I would hate to have these blow up in my face as I'm a little worried about hitting a trigger by accident.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.....

Here is a link where I have found a similar topic discussed

--http://www.automobileanswers.com/Chev/Cavalier/Chev-Cavalier-1999-Malfunction-Electrical_&_Lighting_Systems-095604.html

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qldit

Good Evening torads, my apologies, I missed this post.

Certainly sounds like a similar problem to bethany's.

When a control module is used to power accessories in the vehicle it relieves the heavy load off a normal ignition switch but some ignition switches are poorly manufactured so do play up.
In many cases switches are lubed with special grease which gums up and goes like wax after a few years. Worth a thought anyway.

In that you are losing so many items it could either be the control module or the switched control power to it, but the grunt power is probably from a different source.

This is why it needs an actual schematic diagram to work out exactly what to consider as possible problem source and a voltmeter to observe where voltage is being lost.

Others will have different ideas.

Cheers, qldit.

cardoc

Hi everyone ck the ideas I left at bethany's thread (I hate typing)
Cardoc

torads

I have fixed the problem and it was a ground. When my father changed the battery he thought that the negative cable needed to be changed so he got a aftermarket one. About 6 inches down from the eylet to the battery is a ground that attaches to the battery tray with a screw. the cable he bought did not have one. When i put the old cable back on and screwed this down. Voila! everything worked fine and no lights or radio problems.

The only problem is that i already changed the instrument cluster. But all is well as they will take back the part for a 10% re-stocking fee. now I just have to rip my dash apart one more time and this problem is over. Thank you so much all for your replys.

qldit

Good Evening torads, well done there, my congratulations.

There are some very clever fellows read and make these posts but it takes a clever chap to actually interpret and do proper rectification.

Again well done.

Cheers, qldit.