No carbon here!
Well, I’ve started working on some of the issues that are preventing the Roadmaster from passing the safety and emissions tests. The car has consistently been failing the NOX portion of the emissions testing in our area. I rolled the Roadie out of the garage today to have a look at the EGR valve. I’ve never seen an EGR valve that was carboned up before but it looked clean enough to me. Interestingly enough, I had been puzzled about the large hole in the hood liner material when I got the car. Once I pulled the home base off and discovered all the mouse droppings and large nest made of hood liner it all became clear. The car has been sitting in a driveway since May so the local critters had plenty of opportunities to move in.
Also on my list of things to tackle for my safety inspection is the windows. All of the windows have to roll down in order to pass. As it stands now, all four windows function (not counting the one that is off the track) from the drivers seat, but not from their respective switches. I may not be much of a mechanic, but this problem seems to be electrical and that’s very much right up my alley. I took apart the drivers door control panel and tested the window lock switch and it’s working fine. I shorted the window lock wiring, but it had no effect. From the wiring diagrams there are two brown wires that should come from the window fuse, one goes to the drivers switch assembly, and the other goes to the window lock switch. Both brown wires should have a +12VDC potential but only the window control wire does and not the window lock wire. I fed a jumper over to the other +12VDC wire but no luck. It seems that the brown +12VDC wire and the Blue return wire must both be damaged. I’m assuming that something has been disconnected (or gnawed on by critters). The Haynes diagrams make mention of a window system controller but not where it’s located. I can’t wait for my GM Factory manual to arrive.
While working on the window switches I had the key in the on position to do some testing with my meter. As I moved in my seat, I could repeatedly hear a relay clicking under the dash. It sounds much like a turn signal relay. I noticed it a great deal as I drove the car back home but it doesn’t seem to be hindering my quest for roadworthiness so I figured I’d save it for later. Truth be told, the clicking is a little annoying. If I sit still in the passenger seat, I don’t notice it but if I reach across and the car wiggles a bit, this relay will click once or twice. It shouldn’t be too hard to isolate which relay, what it does and what controls it, but I thought I would post here and see if anyone has encountered something like this. I think I may need to remove the fuse blocks as well to see if my furry friends have done more than just tear apart my hood liner. I haven’t seen any other signs of mouse damage but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.
