If some one could please advise me as to where this wire goes and it's purpose. I have tried to trace this wire from the wiring diagram in the chassis service manual. It appears to have constant power. Thank you for any help.




UPDATE
this wire is the other second heavy gauge wire that is in this cluster of wires. The other heavy gauge wire is the purple wire that goes from the starter motor. This black wire comes out of the block just under the set of wires that goes to the wiper motor and voltage regulator. the color of wires are Blue, yellow, black w/orange stripe, green and heavy purple, then this heavy large black wire that looks like it plugs somewhere. I have tried to trace this from the manual but can't seem to find it on the diagram. thanks guys for any help.

 

2nd photo

 

Big black wires are usually a ground. The reason it may have power on it is that your positive power is feeding through an open circuit. Once grounded, that power goes away.

 

That looks like the feed for a power option. What options do you have on the car? PW? PSeat? etc?

 

No power options except for power steering.....lol nothing but a AC car and everything else is manual doesn't have rear defrost or anything of the sort pretty much a plain jane.

 

Can you physically chase wire back to where the other end is connected?

 

The picture has no arrows or whatnot to indicate which one you are referring to.

If the wire has power all the time and goes near the fusebox bulkhead and you have AC, it may be for the Blower Motor High Speed function.

Best bet is to trace it and see where it goes to/from.

Or disconnect it and see what stops working.

 

I have no ideal how to draw arrows , the wire comes from the left side or if your sitting in the car it would be the right side of the fuse block. The side that appears to feed the AC wiring. On the end of the plastics terminal it has 23 stamped on it if that helps. Where does the AC blower high side connect at?

 

Sorry, didn't realize you were over 40
:-)

While not NECESSARY, some image skills are very handy

right click on your pic to modify
select OPEN WITH....
use MS PAIN[T] to open it. I call it PAIN because compared to the most rudimentary MacPaint program set forth in 1984, it sucks bwana. But, it makes possible fun stuff.

First, FILE/ SAVE AS, and change the name of the file so that you have a scrap copy to not worry about what you do to it. You can also choose to alter the format to bmp or jpg or png or whatnot. I like jpg for small file size yet adequate detail.

Image too large? CTRL-W lets you resize it, it's under one of the menus as well.

SAVE again every time you make changes you like
CTRL-Z will UNDO things you wish you had not done. ONE THING only.

Select a color like say red or green
Select a tool like say the Draw A Line Tool.
Then draw a line to make an arrow, or freehand a circle or whatnot with the paintbrush tool.

Make a mistake? You can undo ONE mistake with ctrl-z. Made two mistakes? close the file w/o saving and open the last saved version. "Save as..." often, and increment the filename each time as you go... Wires01, Wires02, Wires03, etc.

Text box lets you annotate the image as you wish using lettering. It does tend to obscure and wipe out the stuff under the text though. You can open a new blank PAIN document and compose text there, then select the text and a little area around it, copy it, then alt-tab over to the other PAIN document with the image then paste in the text, either white or transparent background as desired, and place it where you want.

ppaaiinntt 101

 

Is this possibly a ground wire for the fuse block or something/ is there such a thing? I took the ohm meter and connected to the plug of this wire and everywhere I would touch on the fuse panel it would make an audible sound, thanks for any assistance.

 

There is no such thing on an Olds. What does "audible sound" mean? Every ohmmeter I've used has a, er, meter. Does the sound indicate continuity or power?

 

I believe it represents continuity .

 

Well, you need to know for sure. Touch the two leads together and see.

 

Yes it's continuity .

 

Have you found the end under the dash? It sounds like the wire might be pinched or something, causing the short to ground.

 

The only single black wire that passes through the firewall connector is the wire from the horn button to the horn relay, which is located on the driver's side inner fender. It should not be grounded all the time, unless the horn button is messed up or missing. It's also a 20 ga. wire, not a heavy gauge wire.

 

Could it supply power to the other side of the car, it has the number 23 stamped on the side of the plug

 

Could it go to this ceramic block?

 

The ceramic ignition resistor is NOT factory-installed, so a previous owner has messed with the car, meaning you don't know what you have. There is no "power to the other side" wire. As I pointed out above, there is no heavy gauge black wire like that on the factory wiring diagram. Did you trace the other end of it? That would answer a lot of questions.

 

I don't suppose you could, maybe, show us a picture of this plug head-on, so we can see what sort of receptacle it plugs into.



- Eric

 

Really appreciate your patience and help joe, I have followed it all the way back to the firewall and it's the wire that is in between the wiper motor and the AC harness. I'm a little hesitant in attempting to unscrew the harness from the fire wall as I'm not to comfortable with that aspect.

 

That's what the search is for Eric, thanks I can take more pic's tomorrow .

 

Yes, but can you show us a photo of the plug head-on, instead of a side view, so we can see what shape it is?

- Eric

 

Will do thanks for your help as well.

 

Here is the pic of the other end as requested thanks .

 

2nd shot

 

Thank you, but... No - the most helpful view would be head-on, looking directly into the plug, like your camera was the receptacle.

That way we can see what special characteristics the "missing" part has.



- Eric

 

That's a broken HEI power connector - the white one in this photo. The locking tab is broken off on yours. Again, NOT factory on your car, which is why no one can place it. A previous owner put that in. I assume the distributor was converted to HEI?

 

Thanks, Joe - I knew someone (other than me) would recognize it.

I was about to go through the electrical diagrams to see whether any of the stock connectors looked like that, as I didn't remember any.

- Eric

 

It only took FOUR months to get nearly-in-focus photos that were actually helpful...

 

"It's S-L-O-W Good."

- Eric

 

Yes, that song will be stuck in your head now...

 

Sorry guys for all the frustrations, but I truly appreciate your help. So now it explains why it's hot continuous and why I can't seem to find the wire from the harness to the coil. only have the starter to the coil "yellow" wire. Thanks so much for your help and yes the original motor did have Hei and I have just a Petronix kit in my distributor. Goes to show you when you buy somethings you need to have someone with knowledge review it with you.

So I am correct in my assumption of why it has power all the time?
I wish I could take a real good photo as it looks factory.

 

Curse you!

And Carly Simon, too!

- Eric

 

It should be hot anytime the key is in RUN or START only.

FYI, it would have helped to know the car had a non-original HEI as well as any other non-factory items. Lacking that info, we can only assume the car is stock.

 

Well, the original motor didn't have HEI, as it hadn't been produced then...


It should have power in Start and RUN, but not in ACC, LOCK, or OFF.

- Eric


edit: Curses! Joe beats me again!

 

Well, if you didn't have that earworm slowing down your brain circuits...

 

Please accept my gratitude, it sure feels good knowing what it is now and I owe it all to Joe and Eric taking your time to truly help, feels really good to "know people who know "

 

You're welcome.

- Eric

 

Those guys know their *****