Just bought my 85 SS today has a few known problems, starting with the only gauges working are the RPMs and the battery, the turn signals wont flash but the hazards will, it seems to be burning oil from the passenger side of the motor. Would like to see what people think the problems are ill post below here what i think.

Gauges: im thinking its something in the wiring but im not sure where i could begin to check if it is or how to go about fixing it

Turn Signals: though it was a bad flasher fuse but not sure how it would be that because hazards work and looking in the fuse box there wasn't even a fuse for the hazards which made no sense

Burning oil: valve cover gasket/bad valve seats, not 100% sure on either if you know how i can be sure on what it is let me know

 

the oil issue is most probably the valve cover gasket. also check the intake manifold bolts. thats where i would start. change the gasket and degrease the motor.

i honestly dont recall the hazard fuse in the box and its been a few years since ive even looked at the fuse box not to mention my cars not here so i cant check for you. the flasher should control the signals and the hazards so you can rule that out. its possibly a bad signal switch. do the parking lights work?

does this car have the factory motor in it?

sorry for the out of order responses just the order i answered in.

 

yeah thats what i think the oil burning is, thats where ill start. and the parking lights do work i have no clue with the turn signals there isn't a hazard fuse only a flasher fuse and in my fuse box it seems to be really loose, i don't have to put anything into pulling it out or putting in which i find weird...and yes this car is 100% stock other then new paint which is why the guy sold it because it has orange peel pretty bad but i know some people that will wet sand for a decent price.

edit: also when i turn turn signal on on the dash...the green arrow lights up but stays solid, when i push hazard switch in they both flash. i also just checked all my grounds make sure they where down good, was thinking that was cause my of gauges not working but seemed like everything was ground good

 

Start by checking your bulbs you may have one burnt out if it's lighting up and just staying lit,

 

oh and obviously check the bulbs^^^^ i ruled that out because you said they flash when the hazards are on, but you should always check the simplest thing first.

there should be a fuse for the turn signals. i say should be because i honestly dont remember. you can possibly take the turn signal bulb out with the turn signal on and test the socket with a volt meter. it should have power if the switch is on. if not i would assume its the switch or a wire. id test it with the hazards on just to assure that this method works. im by no means a mechanic just the way i would attempt to test it.

the gauges could be a few things. from bad gauges, bad sending units, or just not being hooked up. the speedometer runs on a cable and thats why i asked about the odometer because if the odometer works the speedo should work unless the gauge itself is bad.

 

yeah haha i checked bulbs first before even thinking of posting. heres a link to the fuse box diagram View topic - Electrical problem? • GBodyForum.com - '78-'88 GM G Body Community which looks like the only fuse is the turn signal flasher, but like i said it has to pressure holding the fuse in not sure how id go about making it hold the fuse it just kinda sits there..1 small bump and itd fall out. im not 100% sure with the odometer due to the fact that i havent drove it and i didnt pick it up when it came home. hoping its all simple fixes because changing fuel sending unit and more is gonna cost a little bit.

 

Mile has both one for turn and hazard, took a quick look at an old pic of when some one was asking about bat/ign leads,

Thinking about it I had a ground issue with my guages at one point and it was making funnything happen, found the ground down by the radio( gatta pull the stereo and hvac stuff out) was disconected

 

gonna run outside and check for grounds behind radio hould be (i bought it without radio, there is bunch of cut wires, mostly speaker wire didnt really look hard) and where you're pointing in that picture should i have somthing in that spot?

 

You might but not that I know of, that is just a Hot battery lead, I took that pic some time ago to show a different member where they could go for a constant power supply for thier radio,

 

ahh, i just took the front panel off where the gauges are its to hot outside to do anymore...and i looked where radio was supposed to be and i saw 2 grounds in there, 1 for radio and i saw 1 screwed in, not sure where it went to. my gas gauge jumped to almost full though and before it was just sittin on E. Also when i put it in gear the tack on the gauges dont move what soever it just sits on park.