had fun today with 192 today. do i smell burnt wires?

[Boostdtalon]

Well today had been going fine until i got back from a quick drive with the car. i notice when i get out of the car that my headlights are still on. strange because i never turned them on in the first place. i check the switch, nope it's off??? as i walk around the car i notice that my reverse lights are on too. this is even stranger since they had not been working previously. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gifwell i take off the positive side of the battery so it doesn't kill it and continue with what i had been doing. which is getting ready to move. so after delivering some items to the new house. i decide to check the car out again and see if i can figure it out. hook the terminal back up and started the car. first thing i notice is my afr gauge is not working correctly. it sticks at a number and than after a second or two it moves again(i have a messed up ISC so it should be even more all over the place.) well after a brief moment smoke arises from the steering column. "holy f***!" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif as i turn off the car and run for the trunk to disconnect the battery(which kills me to look at as i work on electronics for a living. not my doing as well) i run back to the car and immediately start removing the lower part of the dash to make sure there is no fire. no fire so i think i stopped it in time. well i pretty much left the car alone because i had too much going on today to really do anything and keep a straight mind about it. So later this week i will be removing all of the gauges previously installed before i got the car and checking all my wiring to see what shorted out. i'm praying to god nothing was seriously damaged. i'm thinking it probably has something to do with the ratnests of a wiring job with the gauges. so once i remove them and get them straight, i'm going to go back and check the harness and everything else for damage. i'll post up pics when i actually get deeper into this. so after my infomative rant, all i can say is wish me luck guys.

 

[Hertz]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ughnoes.gif

 

[4thStroke]

Its insane how much of a mess can be made when wiring up gages and sensors. Between my AFR and boost gage, IAT and MAP sensor, NLTS, and ECMLink, my lower footwell is a disaster. I hate having to go back and chase wires through the bash and firewall when a gage balnks out or something dumb like that.

Good luck man, keep us posted.

 

[turbowop]

Werd, even as meticulous as I am with the wiring in my car amongst other things, everytime I pull the carpet back I'm like " /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif " . So many different wires running everywhere for all the aftermarket sh*t.

 

[Boostdtalon]

Well here is what the mess looked like when i pulled everything out today.



Heres what it looks like now. They only spliced into one wire on the stereo harness so thank god, but it was bad too because the daisy chain of wires is not good. still not sure what it was that caused the smoke, haven't found any signs of burnt/shorted wires.



i touched the positive to the battery just to see what lit up. reverse lights are out but headlights are still on??? maybe i have a stuck relay or something. ill look at it more tomorrow since i ran out of light today.

so after this is done, i have a boost/vac, water temp, and AF gauge to wire back in.

 

[Boostdtalon]

Well after being sick for a few days. I finally got back into looking at the car. I discovered which wires was burnt. Part of the harness from the steering column. So I'm going to pull one from the GS and install it this weekend.

 

[MitchooO]

anything look like it actually cause it? a short? bare wire, just got hot and melted? ha...

 

[Boostdtalon]

I'm not sure. I do know it has something to do with my headlights. Im going to start tracing my harness and hopefully I'll find what shorted out. If anyone can send me the diagram I'd appreciate it. I'm going to buy the service manual from FP once I get the money.

 

[Boostdtalon]

well i got access yesterday to look at diagrams online and did some paper troubleshooting. From what i've read i have a bad ground or possibly a hot wire thats shorted to a ground. now to find on the actual harness where it is so maybe now my headlights will turn off. i know its between the switch on the column and the fuse under the hood. i tested that by disconnecting the harness from the column and removing the fuse. headlights still came on when i connected the positive end back on the battery.