Please Help Me Solve Some Car Quirks Before Winter!

[droptopford 5 0]

I have a 94 GT convertible with just under 130,000 miles. As of recently, I have been getting an overload of small electrical problems that seem to appear and re-appear as they want to. To me, they seem like completely unrelated things. But at the same time, it is a little strange that they have all come on in the last 6 months or so when the car has been almost flawless up until now. -First, my passenger side window wont roll up from time to time when it is in the full down position. i need to take the door panel off and loosen the motor mounting bolts and it will free up every time.
-Next, the clock will not light up from time to time even though it still keeps good time. No jiggle of the wires or anything will fix this, it just fixes itself.
-Also, as of recently, my fan for the AC/ and heat doesn't work on the first three settings, but will still work on the highest setting only. this happened for the first time a few days ago and has remained.
-Last (hopefully the last thing for a while,) my temperature gauge will bounce from its normal running temperature way up and down in the matter of less than a second so i know it isn't reponding to temp changes, but seems like a bad connection/ ground somewhere.

Hopefully you all can help with any individual problem or what I'm hoping for is that someone can think of a common wiring harness or connection that might relate some of these problems. Please give me any ideas that would be helpful. I need to solve these problems before the snow and bitter cold set in and I need to put it under the convers. Thanks, -Kyle

 

[whitesqual]

Man you gota be carefull dropping that p word around here lately! (please)



It sounds like you have some serious electrical gremlins! It sounds like you need an hvac control module to fix the fan control. I think thats what its called.

I had a bad battery cause me a bunch of random electrical issues that I thought were completely unrelated. Lot of searching to figure that one out!

 

[HISSIN50]

The HVAC fan is probably the blower motor resistor.

The clock is probably just crapping out. NOte that if alt output is low at idle, the clock display is one of the first things to shut off.

Your guess on the chafed/intermittantly shorted temp wire could be right. If you have an aftermarket gauge anyhow, I would disconnect the sender wire to the stock gauge. The gauge should read totally cold. If while driving, it pops up and down, the wire is probably shorting out occasionally. If the gauge stays cold the whole drive, you could try a fresh sender.

The window motor brushes might be sticky.

 

[droptopford 5 0]

ya, the temp guage will bounce from normal operating temp (around the "n") then it will bounce from the "a" to the lower line below the "n" and back a few times, then it will go back to where it was. it is a stock gauge so there no funny connections. by the way where is the sending unit for that temp gauge so i can try to follow that connection to the possible problem? and also, is the blower motor resistor directly behind the control panel on the front console/ dash? i'm wondering the easiest way to access that without snapping off those plastic tabs which always break and cause rattles and squeaks. Lastly, if it changes anything, I had the original clock "die" on me about 6 months ago where i thought it was dead, now this clock from a v-6 stang is intermittently doing the same, you don't think it is something bigger?

I'm only throwing this thread out there so someone might think of a common wiring harness to check that some animal chewed on over the winter or something. for instance, maybe all things but the door motor are somehow included in the same harness? thanks for all of your help. -Kyle

 

[Chythar]

I had something similat happen to my temp gauge; turned out to be a loose connection. The connector leading to the CTS can fit well but be just a little too loose to create an intermittent connection. Pop the connector off the CTS and squeeze it so it's a tight fit going back on the CTS.

And just in case, the CTS (Coolant Temp Sender) is on the driver's side of the intake manifold, a bit behind the distributor. It has a single-wire "L" connector covered in rubber. The ECT (Electronic Coolant Temperature, I think) is on the passenger's side of the engine, plugged into the black metal heater hose. it has a plastic connector with two wires. The ECT feeds only the computer, the CTS feeds the gauge ONLY.

 

[droptopford 5 0]

thanks for the tip on the blower motor resistor. that thing was so sudted it was broken in 3 places breaking the connection. 18 bucks and 10 minutes and we're back in business. now i will have to check those temp sensor connections.