This 1994 Oldsmobile 88 Royale came in with a complaint of an intermittent no run condition along with an intermittent no power window condition as well. If one system was okay, so was the other and when one was acting up, the other one was as well. This is a very common problem, and I have been waiting a long time to find one of these vehicles with condition. The problem is located under the driver’s side carpet.
There is a ground gang connector under the carpet on the driver’s side, that for a multitude of reasons fails. The most common cause is water damage like this one.
If you double click on the pictures you will be able to see the corrosion and moisture.
I removed the cover to inspect.
The internal terminals.
The damaged comb connector.
I was able to clean the comb connector and replace the damaged terminals. I packed dielectric grease into the connector to help keep moisture out and reassembled. If needed one can cut all of the ground wires loose and connect them all together using standard splicing terminals.
HELLO I AM NCIS324 AND I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS SPOT IF NOT FOR YOU MY CAR WOULD STILL BE SITTING I TOOK APART THE PLUG YOU HAD SAID ABOUT AND I HAD A GROUND WIRE MELT THE PLASTIC TO ITSELF AND BROKE THE CONTACT THERFORE CAR WOULDNT RUN UNLESS DOOR WAS OPEN AND DOME LIGHT SWITCH WAS IN ON POSITION BUT I CLEANED THIS CONTACT AND NOW ALL IS WORKING GREAT THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR IMPUT ON THIS SITE
Thank you so much! You are a life saver. I took that apart and it looked clean but then I got to looking and some wires were exposed. I haven’t been able to afford to take my car to a mechanic and its been sitting in my drive way for 2 months. So glad I found this.
great job man.i had the same problem checked relays checked fuel pump.they all worked straight wired.so i knew it was a short somewhere i had power to the window switches but none to the motors or radio.
the olds like all gm products are prone to electrical shorts.
thanks alot
Thanks alot that fixed it it wouldnt start, power windows,seats, and locks didnt work cut it off taped the wires all together fired right up everything works THANKS
You are wonderful!!!!! We could not figure out what the problem was. I knew as soon as I read the comments that my car would be fixed! We had already replaced the fuel pump, battery, battery connectors, etc. We live in the northwest and it has been raining every day. There was a puddle of water and my son dried it and the car worked again until it down poured for days on end so we are looking for the cause of standing water on the floorboard which is shorting out the wires.But thank you so much for your information and pictures. We are on the right track now.