[kpeters59]

Among my myriad of problems, is that I have noticeably slow wipers and turn signals. Now my A/C blower only seems to work on low. Plus the car still has the intermittent bogging/stalling. Oh yeah, and I've gone through 5 alternators in 2 years. Yes, they're the HD's. Current draw with the ignition switch on/engine not running is in the 5a range.

So I'm trying to follow the wires under the hood, and I see 3 wires coming off of the battery. One to the Starter, one to the Alternator, and one to the under-hood fuse box. Where's the +12v get to the interior fuse block from? The starter post I'd guess, maybe?

Anybody got any quick test points to look for? Or know where I should be looking?

It's a '96 SS...and I don't have an actual wiring diagram...

Thanks,

-KP

 

[cletus284]

I would start by checking your aux. battery post, by the underhood fuse/relay center. It should be brass. If it's zinc, replace it ASAP. Second would be grounds, particularly if you have any aftermarket stereo equipment.

 

[kpeters59]

Stock stereo.

Grounds all look good...at least the ones where I know to look. That's actually what I was asking. Where are the junction points where it would be an obvious place to check for power/ground. The ground strap on the back of the motor looks fine. It's a '96, so the aux post should be fine...it looks fine...

It gives me the impression that either the power feed to the fuse box is high-resistance, or there is a ground missing and that's making all the blinky things go slow...

Thanks,

-KP

 

[eshaw301]

Stock stereo.

Grounds all look good...at least the ones where I know to look. That's actually what I was asking. Where are the junction points where it would be an obvious place to check for power/ground. The ground strap on the back of the motor looks fine. It's a '96, so the aux post should be fine...it looks fine...

It gives me the impression that either the power feed to the fuse box is high-resistance, or there is a ground missing and that's making all the blinky things go slow...

Thanks,

-KP

look on the mount point for the ignition coil/module bracket adn you should see 3 ground wires going to it. also the battery ground should be behind the alternator on the engine block itself. if there are anymore than that then you might have already found them. also, my recommendation is to get you a set of gm factory manuals from ebay for our cars i paid like $60 for mines and it covered all three books...engine, drivetrain, and tranny rebuild. you would be surprised when you look at the troubleshooting in that book where it takes you for certain stuff. for example, my cruise control wasnt working and i was gonna replace the control box but i looked in the manual and it told me to check my thrid brake light in the back window to see if it was blown. well it was and i replaced it and now the cruise is back to working again. thats the craziness im talking about. with these modern day electrical junction boxes that we call cars, you will spend days if not weeks chasing a issue with your car that isnt mechanical.

 

[w$cb]

Any pics of those "ground" areas? I'm attempting to check mine as well. That's ground at thecoil, the alternator and the batt.

 

[eshaw301]

Any pics of those "ground" areas? I'm attempting to check mine as well. That's ground at thecoil, the alternator and the batt.

i dont have pics but they aint hard to see. on my 96 ss the grounds are black wires that run to those points. the battery one can be floowed from the neg terminal on the batterty to the block. then there is one that goes to the alternator on the top and then the ones to the ignition coil bracket mount hardware.

 

[pcordes1979]

Unaddressed by anybody else. The HVAC blower motor issue is due to a bad resistor pack. A simple and relatively inexpensive fix. Probably about $20 at your local parts store and 3 hex head screws to remove. Its a common failure point and once you replace the resistor pack you will have all the fan speeds back. Also while you are down there may also be a good time to replace the blower motor itself as the bearing in them go bad over time causing increased noise.

Also the 96 Impala SS's DID NOT come with the zinc battery posts that was only 94's and early 95's that had them, so that will probably not be an issue with your car. In addition to checking the grounds also check to make sure there is no corrosion on the battery power lead terminals. You may have to remove the rubber insulator that goes around the wire terminals to properly clean them off. - Peter

 

[Nor-CalSS]

Go to this site.

http://ss.lencolab.com/

Find: '94 - '96 IMPALA SS / CAPRICE DIAGRAMS.


Here are the links to the 3 pages of Ground locations from the web site I listed above. "

http://ss.lencolab.com/diagrams/impala_ground_1of3.pdf

http://ss.lencolab.com/diagrams/impala_ground_2of3.pdf

http://ss.lencolab.com/diagrams/impala_ground_3of3.pdf



P.S. It is VERY wise to listen to Cletus and check your AUX post ASAP!

 

[kpeters59]

Wow...cool y'all...thanks.

Am I right about the fuse box power feed? Does it come off of the starter 12v post? There's only 3 red wires coming off the battery. The under-hood fuse-box doesn't seem to feed it. I remember some other old Chevy's I've had that did feed the dash from the starter.

Has anybody else seen the slow wipers and slow blinkers?

I suspected the resistor pack for the AC blower. And it would seem likely. If the voltage is low, I can imagine the current flow in the circuit increasing...blowing the resisitor. Happened in my '96 Tahoe. Except that you should still have MAX speed. My Tahoe does. And I have the resistor pack for it, except it's on top of the cold air box in the Tahoe...nearly inaccessible. Plus, on occasion, the SS fan will occasionally turn on. And it has no max fan either. Which is part of why I started this thread looking for test points.

-KP