68 Camaro Restomod AAW Terminal Radio Bat Wire Dead

[jgaddy]

First time posting here and hope I'm doing it correctly.

The title says most of it. My radio was going in and out randomly, then finally died. I took it apart and the yellow radio bat wire is not getting any juice.

Tested the inline fuse - it's fine so i tested the wire before it and it's getting nothing
Testing the fuse at the terminal, the fuse is fine
Tested the terminal itself that it was getting power and it is

So I am assuming the wire itself is possibly the issue. I spent two hours yesterday trying to follow it all of the way back to the terminal to look for any damage and there is none.


I'm hoping someone can help give me some guidance on next steps to fix this. I'm at a total loss of what to do or test next .

Thanks

[Vimes]

If you are getting power at one end of the wire and not at the other, the problem is in the middle, ie in the wire. Either you've missed the actual point of damage which is most likely where it passes through a bulkhead, or the damage is inside the insulation and may be a manufacturing defect. There's no use in stressing out about it, just run a new wire from the terminal to the fuse and be done with it. Pay attention to routing as you go and wrap a few rounds of electrical tape or put plastic conduit around it anywhere it passes through a hole. If you can, try to remove the old wire and any damage should be visible then.

If it helps, my day job involves wiring inside buildings that never moves. In theory, that wiring should be good until the end of time but wiring will go bad for no apparent reason - today it works, tomorrow it doesn't.

[jgaddy]

Thank you very much.

I would appreciate any help anyone could give in this next step.

Any videos on how to do this would be appreciated. Or something that would walk me through how to work on the terminal. This would be something new as I did not do this install of it.

[dhutton]

I would disconnect the battery, unplug the two bulkhead connectors under the hood, and unbolt the fuse block which will allow you to take a look at where the yellow wire terminates in the fuse block.

[Vimes]

Wiring looks and sounds harder and scarier than it actually is. With a little care and attention to detail, it's actually pretty easy other than it seems lke a lot of effort over a tiny little wire hidden in a bundle going who knows where. I would call https://americanautowire.com/ and tell them what fusebox you have, and ask them to send you a new yellow wire with the correct terminal ends on it. It'll probably just cost a couple of bucks.

To remove the fuse box, I see two shiny silver bolts. If that doesn't get it there may be bolts underneath the round relays on either corner. Be careful moving it around, and be extra careful when bolting back in that you don't get any wiring caught under or around the bolts. You don't want to introduce new problems by fixing this one.

The terminal look like this.



It has little arms sticking out (you can see them in the picture, coming off at a shallow angle) that hold it inside the plastic box, and you can either get the correct tool or use a very small, thin flathead screwdriver to remove it. The tool you use will slide down the hole the terminal is in. Push the wire up a bit, then use the tool to push down the side to bend the arms in on each side, then it just slides out the back. Have the new wire with you when you pull the old one out. Don't just yank it out, but carefully slide it out. Pay attention to the terminal's orientation as it comes out, and immediately install the new wire in the same hole with the same orietation. It will go in the wrong way and if it does, it won't work correctly. Once the new wire is in you can run it along with the rest of them, then bolt the fuse box back in place.

[thedugan]

I would just rewire the radio to run off the AAW Accessory block. Find what is not in use. Blue, Pink, or Yellow IGN would be the best to use if available.
https://americanautowire.com/collect...-camaro-500661
See page 2. You can run it off of one of these and drop the fuse down to like 5-10amp.
Cap off the yellow wire you are using so it doesnt short on something if ever ends up having power.
If you need terminals or the crimp tools you can call AAW and they can help you out.

[dontlifttoshift]

Yeah, but his battery wire is dead, not the ignition one.

There is actually 2 yellow wires coming out of the fuse block on that same terminal. One is the clock feed. Does that one have power?

Did you check the clock fuse? Because that is the fuse for battery power to the radio. The radio fuse is for the ignition power to the radio.

[dhutton]

Yeah, but his battery wire is dead, not the ignition one.

There is actually 2 yellow wires coming out of the fuse block on that same terminal. One is the clock feed. Does that one have power?

Did you check the clock fuse? Because that is the fuse for battery power to the radio. The radio fuse is for the ignition power to the radio.

:>)

[thedugan]

If that's the case how about using the Orange or Red in the AAC accessory block to get it working?

[dhutton]

If that's the case how about using the Orange or Red in the AAC accessory block to get it working?

Best check the clock fuse first.

[thedugan]

Agree

If it looks fine and you can't figure out the issue with the yellow wire the AAW accessory harness wires are another option. Will get the radio up and running for the time being.

[dhutton]

I think the OP left the chat…

[jgaddy]

I think the OP left the chat…

Sorry we have been on our family summer Vacation.

I have read all of these and am hoping to find some time this week to try all
of the recommendations starting with the clock power first.

I’ll follow up after that.



not gone just juggling summers sports and camps and all that good stuff.

Thank you all

[jgaddy]

Thank you so much.

This was it. It’s funny but not funny. I check all of the fuses and somehow missed this one. I went and bought a nice Klein tested. Did fuse testing on all of them I thought.

Just pulled it out and it’s fried.

Thanks everyone. Yall were great.

[dhutton]

Thank you so much.

This was it. It’s funny but not funny. I check all of the fuses and somehow missed this one. I went and bought a nice Klein tested. Did fuse testing on all of them I thought.

Just pulled it out and it’s fried.

Thanks everyone. Yall were great.

Donny aka dontlifttoshift saved you a ton of time there. Maybe bump up the size of the fuse a skooch.