Topic: 1980 Trans Am AC relay problem ***FIXED****

[ponchonutty]

I need to know what the black wire that goes to the relay that's attached to the AC/Heater box.  It is suppose to have ground but mine does not.  Anyone know where that goes or grounds at?
Thanks!

[eroc022]

goes inside to the rest of the harness... or should

[jjr]

 Sounds like the Cabin blower fan ground wire. The motor mounts on
the fiberglass and so doesn't have a chassis ground.

 Joe

[ponchonutty]

OK.  well when I ground this wire my motor runs as it should....all three speeds.  This '80 is an untouched car.  It even has the original radio installed.  I have yet to find any harness cut.  I guess what I need to find out is where exactly this black wire grounds to.

[jjr]

 I don't have access to the HVAC section of the manual at the moment
(iPad in Doctors office) but there is a clip on the blower motor body,
that's one end of the wire and what allows flow through the motor.

 Later today, with my desktop, I can zero in on the place in the
HVAC section of the Pontiac written manual and show you.

 That section is awesome and very necessary, but I think we have
touched on the HVAC wiring a few times before. Try running a
search and see if you can find it already on here or on the other
popular sites. I'll check back later and add it here if not.

 Joe

[jjr]

 Note the legend at the bottom... LU8 is the 301T and so the alternative
routing.



 Joe

[ponchonutty]

Great thanks.  This has me going in the right direction.  I wonder if it has anyting to do with my headlights too.  They all work but when on lowbeam the highbeam light up real dim.

[ponchonutty]

Ended up getting it fixed.  That diagram helped me to trace things out.  Ended up the PO had unhooked that 2 pin connector that's between the compresser and that relay.  Also, found why my headlights looked odd on teh passenger side.  Ground wire was unhooked.  So, that being said everything besides the power locks work as they should

[jjr]

 Happy to help in any way...

 With power door locks it's the actuators 99% of the time.

 Those units were very GM wide and are very often cheaper
bought for another model...

 I bought actuators for my 1985 El Camino only to notice they
were identical to my 1980 and 1981 cars... except for the price,
big savings in looking at the exchange.

 Joe

[joe d]

glad to hear it is fixed, amazing how some people do not see the importance of ground wires

[ponchonutty]

Yup.  Thanks again.  Hey, I do a lot of aftermarket stuff for car dealerships.  Would I ruin the value if I swapped out the power locks that are in there with aftermarket ones?  I would use the same switch and linkage.  Only might have to make one or two new mounting screw holes?  I use SPAL and their lock motors are hard to beat.  Plus new, the only run me about $18 a piece.
Here's their link for a complete kit however I'd just use the motors since everything else is there.  I'd like to also add keyless entry but that might take the value too far???
http://www.spalusa.com/store/main.aspx?p=itemdetail&item=37000148

[jjr]

 Since the actuators are hidden no-one would know. Me, personally, I like
'em the way they came.

 You may have to change the wiring depending on how the aftermarket
units work.

 In some the electric motor always turns in one direction and use other
methods to change actuator direction.

 GM is fond of changing motor direction to achieve actuator reversal.

 So, we'd really need to verify how the GM units work and compare to
how the proposed replacements work.

 Joe

[jjr]

 Still wanna go aftermarket?

 Joe

[ponchonutty]

Thanks once again! According to this diagram these locks are reverse polarity.  The Spal system is the same exact thing so they'd hook right up.  I will do some wire tracing and wont be swapping out actuators until I verify they are indeed bad.