Found the issue...It was not any of the things we've been talking about:
Found some instructions on diagnosis of this issue...followed the instructions...ended up taking out the central distribution box...the fusebox by the clutch (for those of you with mtx).
It was a wire / connector set going into the dist. box...would be the top of the box as it's normally latched up into its proper location. You can take it completely out of the car by doing these things:
Disconnect your battery first...you'll be messing with lots of hot wires & connectors
1.) Swing the inside fuse box down by releasing the latch on the right side of the box...as if you were just going to change a fuse.
2.) Looking at the way it's attached, you can see it pivots on two large posts sticking out from the black part of it. By pushing/pulling the whole dist. box toward the rear of the car, you can snap the large pivots out of their holders.
***Before you take the long connectors out�write down which side each goes into! One is white & one is black on the end�you�ll see what I mean�***
3.) Lots of wire harness's to disconnect...two large long ones on the fuse side first...there is a push tab on the fuse end of each long connector...push this in and the whole long connector pivots up with the other end still attached. Get it far enough out so it's not connected electrically, and you can move the long block pivots towards the fuses, and the whole long connector will come away from the white section of the box...sorry if it seems like I'm rambling...
4.) After both of these are clear, you have to get the connectors free on the other side. Spend a little time studying each one and carefully push the tab for each, and work the connector out of the box.
5.) There are 5 connectors going into this box. One is a single wire. One is a two wire with really big wires...it's the main stuff from the battery. There are two more with multiple (more than 4) wires. The one that I burnt out is on the corner of the box, has 3 pins in the socket on the box, but only two of them are used, at least in my model, a very early 1999.
Here�s some pic�s of the stuff:
The spot with missing fuse box. Note the two slots where the box�s mounting posts came out of.
Note the ears that make the hinge of the fusebox. You can also see the corrosion in the box socket:
Not the box with its long connectors missing. You can see the hinge points of those connectors by my thumb here.
Here are a couple of shots to show you the long connectors hinge points. Phew�looks like I better get the leaves vacuumed out of my car!
This connector looks like its toast!
So anyway, I needed to use the car, so I put it back together (no dealers open in Detroit on Saturday). Thought I�d leave the nasty connector unplugged (I�d do an acoustic set) until I replaced it, but the car wouldn�t start, so I plugged it in and the car started up ok.
WTH!!!!The darn blower started working!!! Jeez�.I must have scrapped some of the stuff off somewhere in that connection�enough to complete a circuit and it works.
Still have to replace that connector & clean up the stuff on / in the box socket. But it�s clearly at fault for all of this nonsense in my case�
I�d have a look at this box�and it�s connectors in yours�if you�ve got the problem or not�you might someday, and it�s always easier to clean up electrical connections on a nice 65 degree fall day�that sometime this winter when it�s really cold. I can only guess why this connector would go on me like this. Maybe it�s the material that is in either the connector or the spade in the box socket (it�s a male socket). Maybe they just didn�t like each other electrically�sometimes trace amounts of a metal in a product can cause this. Whatever it is, I guess I might be good for another 100,000 miles or so�
