Electrical help would be appreciated =)

[JRS90FASTBACK]

I've been having some electrical problems the last couple of weeks but it's been an easy fix so far. The cluster and my tailights wouldn't light up, they would just go out randomly. The tailights would light up when I stepped on the brake but not just on with my headlights. Everything else would work. (Stereo, a/c, all the little red lights in the cluster, and the little light above my head.) I would just find the faulty fuse and replace it. Today I was driving around town checking some stuff out and I didn't see a little dip in the road and took a hard bump. As soon as I took the bump the stereo went out and so did the clock in my cluster. I figured it would be a loose connection with my stereo or something behind it. I checked everything out and it was all set up. I went to check the fuses and I took the "room lamp" fuse (10amp) out and saw that it was blown. When I tried to put in a new one, it blew as soon as it touched. I blew out another new fuse after that one. I've replaced that fuse before but it never sparked or anything, it would just fix the problem. I'm thinking that bump I took caused and is causing a short somewhere, was wondering if anyone could help me out with some insight? :x:

Oh and everything else is working right now. The cluster lights up, the little red lights, my tailights, everything but the stereo, clock, and the little light in the car, above my head. Idk what it's called.

[nixad]

I hope you like spaghetti, because what you just described sounds like a electrical short (a wire is exposed and touching something it shouldn't). If you keep blowing fuses that is a clear sign something is not wired up right. I suggest you get a 12 pack of winter lager and your circuit schematics and trace wires are too find the problem.

I also suggest ASAP because blowing fuses means something is trying to catch on fire.

[JRS90FASTBACK]

I hope you like spaghetti, because what you just described sounds like a electrical short (a wire is exposed and touching something it shouldn't). If you keep blowing fuses that is a clear sign something is not wired up right. I suggest you get a 12 pack of winter lager and your circuit schematics and trace wires are too find the problem.

I also suggest ASAP because blowing fuses means something is trying to catch on fire.

Is this gonna be in the car or under the hood?

[GSXRJJordan]

Light above your head is the "dome light" or "room light".

You may have shorted something inside the light fixture. You also may have a short to ground somewhere in your harness which would be very hard to diagnose/find. There's a series of steps I would take to diagnose this if I had the car here, but none of it's quick/easy, and you'd need a good sense of what's going on electrically to successfully use a multimeter to find the problem. No easy answers here, I'm afraid.

[JRS90FASTBACK]

Light above your head is the "dome light" or "room light".

You may have shorted something inside the light fixture. You also may have a short to ground somewhere in your harness which would be very hard to diagnose/find. There's a series of steps I would take to diagnose this if I had the car here, but none of it's quick/easy, and you'd need a good sense of what's going on electrically to successfully use a multimeter to find the problem. No easy answers here, I'm afraid.

Is it safe to keep driving the car right now? I can go without music for a while, don't really need the clock, and the dome light is kinda useless. Nixad is kinda scaring me though haha, don't want anything to catch on fire.

[nixad]

Is this gonna be in the car or under the hood?

Well you said the cluster fuse, and radio went so that owuld be in the car

[lightsource]

Well his symptoms definitely smell of the dome light 10A, and if it's continuously going out, they're right... you have two wires connecting to eachother or something's grounded incorrectly. The clock, radio and room DO go out simultaneously without that fuse.

If you hit a dip and it happened (idk how big your wheels are but...) check your harness in the wheel wells. There's a possibility that your wheel shredded through the harness and wires are rubbing against eachother.

I had the same thing, but the only difference is that my cluster went haywire and I was going like 60mph but the needle wouldn't stay still and I got a (!) light, all kinds of stupid stuff, had to reroute the harness to under the fender.

[JRS90FASTBACK]

Well his symptoms definitely smell of the dome light 10A, and if it's continuously going out, they're right... you have two wires connecting to eachother or something's grounded incorrectly. The clock, radio and room DO go out simultaneously without that fuse.

If you hit a dip and it happened (idk how big your wheels are but...) check your harness in the wheel wells. There's a possibility that your wheel shredded through the harness and wires are rubbing against eachother.

I had the same thing, but the only difference is that my cluster went haywire and I was going like 60mph but the needle wouldn't stay still and I got a (!) light, all kinds of stupid stuff, had to reroute the harness to under the fender.

Not big at all. 15x6 all around, but what you're saying would make sense. Since everything happened after that bump. I'll check it out to see if anything seems loose.

[lightsource]

Not big at all. 15x6 all around, but what you're saying would make sense. Since everything happened after that bump. I'll check it out to see if anything seems loose.


oh it won't be loose, it will be your harness, with exposed wires in a an exposed mess :barfkiss:

When it happened to me, I had to remove my wheel, pull the harness out, individually rewrap any wires that weren't burned (none were) and retape the harness. They were all touching eachother, I'm lucky the computer wasn't fried.

[nixad]

No one mentioned this but take it at your own discretion.

If all else fails and you keep having this problem blowing fuses, but in a fuse that is a couple amps bigger and keep your nose open and wherever the problem is should start smoking

[johngriff]

ghetto stereo wiring?

[JRS90FASTBACK]

No one mentioned this but take it at your own discretion.

If all else fails and you keep having this problem blowing fuses, but in a fuse that is a couple amps bigger and keep your nose open and wherever the problem is should start smoking

I was kinda thinking of sticking like a 15A fuse into there and seeing if it held up haha, but idk.

ghetto stereo wiring?

Nah, my friend who put it in worked at a stereo place and had all the tools and little twist cap things for the wires.

So does anyone know if it's unsafe to drive my car right now?

[g6civcx]

If all else fails and you keep having this problem blowing fuses, but in a fuse that is a couple amps bigger and keep your nose open and wherever the problem is should start smoking

If you do this you deserve to get your car burned down.

[JRS90FASTBACK]

So is it safe to drive my car?

[shanelach]

Most likely, yes. JUST DO NOT PUT IN A HIGHER AMPERAGE FUSE. That is a miserable idea. If you do, have fun potentially frying your entire harness, and maybe the rest of your car.

[GSXRJJordan]

So is it safe to drive my car?

Yup.

If you do this you deserve to get your car burned down.

This.

[johngriff]

If he twist cap'd the wiring.

Its ghetto.

Solder and Glue impregnated shrink wrap = not ghetto.

The fact he works at a stereo shop makes it even worse.

[JRS90FASTBACK]

If he twist cap'd the wiring.

Its ghetto.

Solder and Glue impregnated shrink wrap = not ghetto.

The fact he works at a stereo shop makes it even worse.

Lol, I thought it was pretty clean considering when he started there was just frayed wires everywhere until he cleaned them up. Can't really complain because I've had the system in there for about 8 months and haven't had any problems up until now. (If that is the source of the short)

Pretty happy with my free install.

[johngriff]

Twist caps are made for SOLID CORE COPPER WIRE, that is like 10 ga, not 22ga stranded copper. Because of this, they come apart really easily, especially with vibration and over bumps.

Twist caps are for wiring up light switches in your house, not low voltage electromotive.

[JRS90FASTBACK]

Okay, that's good to know, next time I see my friend I'll yell at him for being ghetto on my installation which I paid him no money for? If that installation is the cause of the short, then I'll know who not to use next time right?

[GSXRJJordan]

Twist caps are made for SOLID CORE COPPER WIRE, that is like 10 ga, not 22ga stranded copper. Because of this, they come apart really easily, especially with vibration and over bumps.

Twist caps are for wiring up light switches in your house, not low voltage electromotive.

100% true. Seen it tons of times.

Okay, that's good to know, next time I see my friend I'll yell at him for being ghetto on my installation which I paid him no money for? If that installation is the cause of the short, then I'll know who not to use next time right?

This thread isn't called "How much is this install worth?" - it's called "I'm clueless about electronics, who feels charitable with their time/expertise?"

You've now received that expertise.

This is where you say "thanks", not defend the shit stereo install in the face of electronic professionals.

[Big_Balls_JC_S13]

I say just read into wiring things yourself. So you know what the problem is. Even if you have the stock size rims on your car you have to imagine and think hmm how old is this car. Wires are not going to stay perfect forever. The wheel well suggestion is probably the most common I would say cause as you said you hit a bump in the road. And it did that... Also the radio wiring is another good one. Maybe a wires is pinched between the radio brace and the car creating a ground. I say look into it all and take a weekend disassemblying things and putting them back together. If you choose not to and hold it off then I believe you aren't a true 240 owner and I will go with what some of the others said about burning your shit to the ground... lmao... also just read some of the self modes as well... a aftermarket stereo can cause a lot of problems in an older car...

[jdm2191]

I know this is a old Thread but this just happen to me & it was do to exposed wiring on my aftermarket radio

Hope this helps out anyone in the future.....