1995 240sx electrical issue HELP!

[auto240s14]

ok so the other day i needed to get my car inspected. i have an after market steering wheel in my car and the horn in it is not hooked up so i needed to hook up a switch to make it work temporarilly so i could pass. well i hooked up the switch (tapped into the cig lighter power) and everything was working fine

jump to friday when i was coming home from work i was trying to move the wiring that was run to the switch out of the way (all i did was run the wires, they were just kind of there, not tucked away or anything) and one of the tabs on the wires touched a screw in my interior and sparked. nothing shut off and the car was still running as normal even after it sparked.

i shut the car off when i stopped next and when i went to start it again it was completely dead. listed below is roughly what im experiencing

- clock on dash is working as normal, when i first got back to the car i noticed it had reset at 1:00 (normally happens when the battery is unhooked and hooked back up). the door dinger is also working when the car is off still, as is the main cabin dome light.

the time will change to either 1:00, 3:00, or 0:00 every time the key is turned to "on" and then back to "off"

- every time i turn the key to "on" the clock shuts off, dinger stops, and nothing else happens, totally dead. everything listed above works again as normal when key is turned back to "off"

- when the maplight near the sunroof is turned on everything goes dead

- when the headlights are turned on everything goes dead

- when the hazards are turned on a quick buzz sound comes from underneath the steering column, the hazards do not turn on, the door dinger cuts off, but the clock stays and the dome light still works.


i am really stumped by this and im thinking it is probably a short somewhere i just have no idea where to start looking.


what i have done so far to try to diagnose the problem is

- checked all fuses in the car and engine bay (12V fuse in the interior was blown, i replaced it and it did not fix the problem)

- checked battery connection/terminals, all were clean and fine

- checked the signal wire to the starter, it was fine


any help would be greatly appreciated.

thank you

[projectRDM]

First thing first, why did you wire a switch to the cigarette lighter for the horn? The horn is a ground trigger. There's no need for 12V to be applied anywhere in the horn circuit until the relay is called into play, which is after the switch side. That alone tells me something was bypassed completely, so what did you do exactly to make the horn work?

[Monooxide]

While ProjectRDM is right, you did use some unorthodox wiring techniques from the sound of it, but are you sure you didn't blow the alternator fuse? Seems very typical of blowing the alternator fuse draining the battery and then the low voltage of the battery is giving you the buzzing relays and dim lights and so forth.

If you have checked every fuse and you know they are good then you may have fried some of the wiring and or have a short in some wiring that's going directly to ground.

[auto240s14]

all i did was tap off of the cig. lighter power and used the horn as the ground with the switch to turn it on and off. it was only temp. til i got the inspection.

and yes i checked every fuse and they were all fine except the 12V which i replaced. im going to start looking through the wiring tonight. apparently all of the items i mentioned are all part of one circuit

also no lights were dim either, the dome light was as bright as is always is