Cascade Crew

chevymad · Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:00 pm Post subject: Bird repair

Put the 87 away in the barn about a month ago with a short in the choke system. Well I got it out yesterday and been driving it, so it was time to fix the short. The wiring for the choke is a bit weird on an 87. The choke fuse supplies power through a choke relay to the choke thermostat. The relay is turned on by the fuel pump power supply(only 87 carbed cars have an electric pump). The short however wasnt in any of this system. Turns out they also use the choke power supply to supply activation power to the coolant fan relay... Umm. ya.. now we're getting convuluted arent we?

Big problem with cars getting this age is the wiring. Seems the insulation on the wires is shrinking. There was about 1/2" of bare wire on all the wires going into the fan relay.. of course they were all touching. Easy fix anyway!! I should probably go through most of the wiring and heat shrink all the ends that are doing this. I need to do alot of underhood cleanup.. and I think its time to get rid of the blue convoluted tubing too.

So working choke is a big plus. While I was at it, I did a quick service and put some fresh synth in the crankcase.

It's nice to get the birdie out driving once in awhile. Smile

izcain · Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:24 pm Post subject:

Gotta love GM's wiring theories lol

QwkTrip · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 5:04 am Post subject:

That's a good way to ensure a bunch of unrelated components quit working at the same time. Laughing

I wonder if that was the last circuit designed and they only had 1 fuse left in the box.

aaron_sK · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:36 am Post subject: Re: Bird repair

Dewey316 · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:44 am Post subject: Re: Bird repair

aaron_sK · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:49 am Post subject: Re: Bird repair

Dewey316 · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:55 am Post subject:

Yup. There are like 480 miles of wire, and none of it done right.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:41 pm Post subject: Re: Bird repair

aaron_sK · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:20 pm Post subject: Re: Bird repair

Alphius · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:43 pm Post subject:

Before '87 or so, Volvo was very environmentally friendly.

I can't take credit for the biodegradeable wiring comment though, I saw it on turbobricks while I was helping my friend work on his '83 Turbo-Intercooled pile of crap.

It did hit over 20 pounds of boost repeatedly on the stock mechanical fuel injection before a rod ventilated the block on the freeway. Those 4th gear pulls will kill ya. Laughing

We drove it home about 7 miles after that as well. Smile

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:31 pm Post subject:

yeah, i just helped a friend with a 79' 244, who couldn't figure out why his headlights only worked on one side on the high-beam setting, and nothing else.

needless to say, most of the insulation was gone on the passenger side, most at crimped ends. Two hours, my kind donation of a headlight switch, almost a ft of 12ga wire, splicing where the copper still looked okay, shrink wrap and some convoluted tubing and, vola! Headlights work and function normally.