My 1996 Z28 Camaro ABS light came one and my cooling fans & heater and A/C blower motor went out too

Tiny
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  • 1996 CHEVROLET CAMARO
  • 146,873 MILES
I started up my car today and my ABS light was on I really didn't think much of it as I was driving I noticed my temperature Gage was little higher than normal so I went to turn my heat on and the motor didn't work. They all work fine the night before coming home from work. I checked all fuses and relays but still it remains the same?
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012 AT 2:01 AM

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Tiny
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Sounds typical of defective ignition switch. One section can develop overheated contacts. That often also results in the wiring connector melting and two terminals overheating. This happens more often to people who use the heater fan on the highest speed often.
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012 AT 4:04 AM
Tiny
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What would be the cause of the cooling fans not working causing it to over heat. And what should I get to fix this issue
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012 AT 4:14 AM
Tiny
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What would be the cause of the cooling fans not working? My car overheats from it
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012 AT 4:19 AM
Tiny
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The ignition switch turns on the circuit for the heater fan. That's a common enough problem that I wasn't thinking about the radiator fan.

Don't fall into the trap of "getting something" to try to fix the problem. Unless you're real lucky or have a well-known failure, that is the most expensive and least effective way to solve a problem. The failure should be diagnosed so you only buy the parts that are needed.

I don't have easy access to GM wiring diagrams, so if I had to guess, I would start by double-checking the large cartridge-type fuses under the hood. A typical scenario would go something along the lines of the radiator fan motor shorted, blew the fuse, and that same fuse feeds one of the switched accessory circuits inside the car. The dead heater fan is supposed to get your attention that something is wrong. They do that because otherwise you would never know about the blown fuse until the engine overheated.

There are always two power circuits for the ABS and the Air Bag Computers. When a fuse for one of them blows, you need the second circuit to run the warning light. One ABS circuit might be tied to the same radiator fan fuse.

Besides a blown fuse, there can be a loose rivet in the fuse box causing a broken electrical connection. A fuse can become loose in the socket. Wiring splices often corrode and cause dead parts of a circuit.

Different parts of the Engine Computer use different power wires. One part turns on when the ignition switch is turned on to run the engine. Since the radiator fan draws a lot of current, it is usually switched on by a relay. That relay will have its own power wire that can have a blown fuse, corroded connector terminal, etc. You'll need to test at various places to see where voltage is present and where it's missing. From those measurements you can narrow down the cause of the problem. Radiator fan relays are generally easy to test. One of the four wires must have 12 volts all the time. If it does not, there's not much that can be wrong between the terminal and the battery. If voltage is present, you can jump two terminals with a piece of wire to see if the fan runs. If it does, that entire part of the circuit is okay, and the problem is related to the Engine Computer not turning that relay on. Given the other symptoms, I wouldn't suspect a problem with the radiator fan relay.
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012 AT 4:40 AM
Tiny
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Yea I have a small wire running tome the accuator fuse to the relay already but I did noticed that my ignition had a issue of when I stuck the key in to turn it on none of the dash lights came on till I turn it back off and tried it again pushing the key in the ignition harder and it worked fine but now the ignition works fine and everything eles is all wackes out
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012 AT 5:24 AM
Tiny
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And I also noticed my turn signals don't work either and the fuse is good and the bulbs are brand new?
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012 AT 5:26 AM

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