Think I found my problem!!!!! Need some insight please.

[-FROG-]

Now it's all starting to come together.

OK, So I have my fuel tank out, dash totally removed and all kinds of other stuff ripped apart. I THOUGHT my issue was.... my fuel pump was not priming or even working. No pressure, so focus in that area because something is wrong with my fuel pump.

BUT I think the reason my car shut off, was because the "Automatic Shut Down" went into effect. Thats why the fuel shut off and the car died as a "Protect mode".

Now that I think about it... I DID smell a "burning plastic" smell before all this happened. I can't remember if it was on this particular cruise or the day before but I did smell plastic burning and just shrugged it off as if a plastic bag got hung on my header or something.

After tracing wires and confirming continuity, that all wires related to my fuel pump relay were connected properly, I found a burned GRAY WIRE. This particular wire is grouped to a 50 pin "bulk head connector" under the heater blower fan and "relay block" area on the passenger side, as seen in picture 1.

Picture 2:
Shows a closer view of the burned wire and the "FAN CONTROL RELAY" associated with it. The relay looks ok and I didn't see any other problems associated with the gray wire.

Picture 3:
Bulkhead connector pin layout

Picture 4:
Shows where the burned Gray wire connects. Apparently it connects to that relay in Picture 2 but I don't see what would have caused it to start burning. If it is associated with my radiator fan, well the car never got hot or anything, so I assume the fan was working fine. It also looks to connect to my A/C Clutch but my A/C isn't hooked up and I don't use it.

ANYHOO, I plan on continuing on with my debugging, but thought I would post this in case someone else may have ideas of what could have caused that wire to get hot and cause my car to shut down. Thanks for the help folks, it's all appreciated as usual!

[mbccenter]

looks like a bad or coroded connection at the grey wire. What is all the white dust on the relays? The one relay looks melted. You can redo the wire and get the car started. Watch the temp of the wire with a laser heat temp sensor. The fan also could have a small short and cause the melting of the wire

[silvergts1998]

did you check to see if you have the correct fuse in place? Spark plug wires look good though!

[-FROG-]

Originally Posted by mbccenter

looks like a bad or coroded connection at the grey wire. What is all the white dust on the relays? The one relay looks melted. You can redo the wire and get the car started. Watch the temp of the wire with a laser heat temp sensor. The fan also could have a small short and cause the melting of the wire

The reason the wire looks corroded is because it is totally melted and it also melted the connector at that particular wire location. Because of this, the wires are exposed and it looks bad. I'm just glad the car didn't catch on fire or anything. The white dust on the relays is just discoloration of the rubber and what not... Oh and thats just grease from my fingers on that one relay. It's not burned. The heater blower motor unit sits on top of that whole section, hiding it and making it difficult to clean under there, if one even wanted to clean it. For watching the wire temp, I think it will be hard to do. The connector mounts in a way that places the burned wire at the very bottom and you can't see it. I thought the fan should have something going on too, but everything appeared to be ok and it must have been working ok, because the car never overheated. I will take a closer look at that area though and see if there is something like a short hiding somewhere around there. THANKS for the ideas though! I wonder if the problem may be from the other end of the connector, inside the firewall? hmmm.....

[-FROG-]

Originally Posted by silvergts1998

did you check to see if you have the correct fuse in place? Spark plug wires look good though!

I did check out the fuses and the fuse size looked to be normal. No giant 50amp fuses or anything weird, but I will double check that detail. Thanks for the tip!

[unlimited performance]

A loose connection will also cause the wire to get hot, and melt. Was the bulk head on tight?

[dansauto]

Originally Posted by unlimited performance

A loose connection will also cause the wire to get hot, and melt. Was the bulk head on tight?

yep loose connections and corroded connections will cause the wire to get hot.

[Jumper]

From what I see, that grey wire is the hot feed for your rad fan.

I would look at the following:
Since the rad fan is 2 speed, maybe one of the speeds, probably the hi, is shorted out.
The rad fan hi/lo relay is shot and is grounding out.
There is a short in the power feed somewhere between your red circle in the diagram and the fan motor.

Good luck!

[-FROG-]

Thanks all. My bulkhead connector was on tight, so I don't think a faulty connection caused the melting. There must be something else involved down the line. I will check out what you mentioned Trash and look for shorts. I didn't get to mess with the car today, but maybe I will some over the weekend. This IS the kind of feedback I was hoping to get so THANKS!

[HP]

The wiring on the GenI high speed fan circuit is marginal at best, especially if you have
an upgraded fan. Then GenII circuit starts on the other side closer to the fan.
Any connection that is less than 100% will cause resistance and heat. Might be a good idea to replace the wire with a larger wire, starting at the fusible link.

[-FROG-]

Originally Posted by HP

The wiring on the GenI high speed fan circuit is marginal at best, especially if you have
an upgraded fan. Then GenII circuit starts on the other side closer to the fan.
Any connection that is less than 100% will cause resistance and heat. Might be a good idea to replace the wire with a larger wire, starting at the fusible link.

Hmmm... I may even consider not using that bulkhead connector again for this wire and run an independant/larger wire to the fan and through the firewall.