Testing for Intermittent Conditions and Poor Connections: Notes

Special Tools

• J 35616  GM-Approved Terminal Test Kit
• J-38125  Terminal Repair Kit

When the condition is not currently present, but is indicated in DTC history, the cause may be intermittent. An intermittent may also be the cause when there is a customer complaint, but the symptom cannot be duplicated. Refer to the Symptom Table of the system that is suspect of causing the condition before trying to locate an intermittent condition.

Most intermittent conditions are caused by faulty electrical connections or wiring. Inspect for the following items:

• Wiring broken inside the insulation
• Poor connection between the male and female terminal at a connector
• Poor terminal to wire connection-Some conditions which fall under this description are poor crimps, poor solder joints, crimping over the wire insulation rather than the wire itself, and corrosion in the wire to terminal contact area, etc.
• Pierced or damaged insulation can allow moisture to enter the wiring causing corrosion. The conductor can corrode inside the insulation, with little visible evidence. Look for swollen and stiff sections of wire in the suspect circuits.
• Wiring which has been pinched, cut, or its insulation rubbed through may cause an intermittent open or short as the bare area touches other wiring or parts of the vehicle.
• Wiring that comes in contact with hot or exhaust components
• Refer to Inducing Intermittent Fault Conditions  in order to duplicate the conditions required, in order to verify the customer concern.
• Refer to Testing for Electrical Intermittents  for test procedures to detect intermittent open, high resistance, short to ground, and short to voltage conditions.
• Refer to Scan Tool Snapshot Procedure  for advanced intermittent diagnosis and Vehicle Data Recorder operation.