Can you help me with my cars electrical issues? Please read the details and help me

E_HUGHES2

MEMBER
2003 CHEVROLET IMPALA
113,000 MILES

Okay, so I have a 2003 Chevrolet Impala (base model) with the 3400 series motor in it. About 2 months ago I was driving down the highway at 2am, all of a sudden my dashlights, tail lights, brake lights, blinkers and radio stopped working. What could cause that to happen? Oh, and I took my car to a chevrolet dealership to get it diagnosed and this is all the info I got from them " found fuses blown for hazards, directionals, and rear park lamps. Checked and found circuits shorted to ground. Disconnected rear lamp harness at C400 and problem still there. The short is located between the IP junction blocks and C400". I took my car home and sure enough the fuses were blown again. Please help me. And whats C400?

Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 5:15 AM

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
34,330 POSTS

C400 means connector 400. It's location would be shown in the service manual.

Disconnecting various items and connectors is part of isolating and locating short circuits. It sounds like they only did half the job. By unplugging C400 and finding the fuses still blow, they determined the problem is before that connector. They narrowed down the list of suspect areas, then stopped. Depending on where that connector is in the car, for that many circuits to be affected at once, look for chewed up trailer connector wires, something slid around in the trunk and crushed a bunch of wires in a harness, or a wiring harness fell down onto hot exhaust parts.

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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 6:13 AM