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I own a '95 Saturn SL1 (4 cylinder) 170,000 miles and for about 2 months now, I have been experiencing this strange electrical problem while driving where both my radio (both clock display and CD player) and air conditioning shut off for about 2 seconds and then turn back on.

About a month back, I replaced a bad battery at Checker Auto, who also performed the electrical testing and determined that all of the electrical circuits were sound, but the above problem continued.

This weekend I decided to clean all of the fuses, many of which showed signs of oxidation, hoping that this would solve the issue, but the problem occurred again the next time I drove.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on where to go next as I am completely out of ideas at this point.

This will be a pill with just a 2 second window of opportunity to catch it in the act!

OK: Does one fuse cover the exact items that cut out? If so I'll suspect the power side and if not it's probably a common ground to the items that momentarily quit. It's ok to add (jumper grounds) from known good ground to what should be ground as in metal to metal parts of dash, dash to body metal etc.,

T
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Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest, Boston
http://acsource.net/acforum/index.php

Unfortunately, when I cleaned the fuses I monitored the radio/clock and a/c and did not find a fuse common to both circuits.

I think my next steps will be to check behind the fuse block and then the alternator (which I'm not looking forward to replacing if it comes down to that).

Thanks for your suggestion. I'll let you know if I figure it out.

Again - they could use a common piece of metal for ground. Dash boards are bolted to body so aren't welded to known grounds and cars in general will add straps here and there to assist for that. Now with plastic everywhere items need to wire into the nearest ground.

Out of dumb luck I've fixed some odd stuff like this by just adding grounds - plain straps or use test clip jumper wires temporarily from a good bolt somewhere to dash metal and voila - sometimes that's it!

Good luck finding it,

T
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Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest, Boston
http://acsource.net/acforum/index.php

Don't know if this will help you or not...

Just throwing it out at you..
There is this TSB ...
Here is an excerpt...you'll need to obtain a copy of this for repair instructions.


File in Section: 08 - Body and Accessories
Bulletin No.: 03-08-45-001
Issue Date: May, 2003
Subject:
Intermittent No Start, Intermittent Stall after Start-Up and/or Loss of Radio Presets (Replace Instrument Panel Junction Block - IPJB and/or Terminal)

Models Affected:
1995-1999 Saturn S-Series Vehicles


Condition:
Some customers may comment that one or more of the following conditions has occurred.
^ Intermittent no start
^ Intermittent stall after start-up
^ Loss of radio presets

Cause:
Condition(s) may be caused by terminal tightness at PIN F-5 within the Instrument Panel Junction Block (IPJB Black 68 way).