98 Cavalier Electrical Short... I need help

Can anyone help... I have a 1998 Chevy Cavalier 2.0 sedan, which has an electrical short in the ignition system. I have had the recall done, I have also had it in the shop twice. The mechanics can't seem to figure it out. The Ignition fuse keeps blowing out on me. It always seems to happen when I am making a right hand turn, AC on and off, radio on and off. Any ideas on where to look for the short? I have already checked the key portion of the ignition, and the battery to the starter, but nothing shows up as a short.

Can anyone please help. Also when the fuse does blow, I can't just put in a new one, cause it blows as soon as I turn the key to 'ON'. After the car has been sitting there for a while and cools down I can then replace the fuse and drive with no problems for anywhere between 15 -

75 mins. before it all happens again.
Reply to
Josh
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Is this a 20 amp fuse? If so, it appears to go only one place . . . the ignition control module. Looks like it's a pink wire (No. 18 AWG). Unless there's something mighty peculiar going on with the ICM my suspicion would be a bare place somewhere along the length of that pink wire.

Reply to
Silver Surfer

Yes it's a 20 amp. I'm not seeing a bare place anywhere, could it be the ICM?

Reply to
Josh

After physically going through and testing for continuity I cannot reproduce the problem now. Is there a way to check for a slight break in a wire? Continuity is the same throught the entire Ignition system.

Reply to
Josh

Don't know how familiar you are with electrical matters so please forgive me if any of the below insults your knowledge.

Continuity to me means that there is a complete circuit from one end of the conductor to the other end. For a short piece of wire that is completely intact the continuity measured would be a few tenths of an ohm. If the conductor is in poor shape (broken strands or corrosion) or if there is a component in the circuit between the two ends then obviously the resistance in ohms will be noticeably higher.

Now if the wire has a break in its insulation one could measure "continuity" from either end of the wire to ground in this case. If the bare section of wire is actually contacting something metallic on the vehicle at the time of the measurement then you would expect a low resistance if a fuse has been blowing. Or you could get very high resistance in the thousands of ohms or higher if the bare spot is intermittently making contact with metal.

Please clarify what kind of measurements you have been taking and their values.

Reply to
Silver Surfer

I'll get back to you on that...

Reply to
Josh

It sound like the wireing in the steering colum has worn and is shorting when you turn

Reply to
MegroeG

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