Burned wire Please help

[AromaoGSX]

Ok well after installing my headunit and system i figured out i shouldnt have grounded the ground wire to radio where the radio mounts itself. My fuse for the taillights under the hook kept blowing out. After going threw about 5 fuses something started to smoke under the dash. So i pulled out the radio and noticed my illumination or dimmer wire was burned all the way down to the wire and it went all the way back as far as i could see. Now what i need help with is what to do next and and also where those wires go after the leave the area right behind the radio. With a volt meter my friend check the wire and he said if the wire was hot at the time its not anymore. See the problem is im not to good with electrical stuff so i need some advice here. I dont want to have to get a whole new harness for the whole car ### i heard thats a real pain. What are my options? Any advice is appreciated. Also my tail lights still arent working so i need to figure something out asap.

 

[gsxboostin]

track the wires that are burned to your ECU and then see if you can find a wiring diagram to find out which wires are for the tail lights and track those too, then once you track them, replace those wires with same color wires if possible.

 

[AromaoGSX]

I dont understand why my illumination wire would cause a problem. That wire shouldnt be hot right? Also there is no illumination wire to connect it to my radio. Also ive never even looked at my ecu in this car where would it be?Also do you think this will be a hard project to do myself or is it fairly easy. How much do u think a place would chanrge to do something like this just curious. Im def not bringing it anywhere to get fixed ### that money can go into the car for mods but im just curious.

 

[AromaoGSX]

also is there anyone in this area that could help me take a look at it? Im in central jersey.Thanx alot guys dunno what i would do without this site..

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Well, your stereo wiring harness is seperate from the engine wiring harness (with the expection of the ACC postion on the ignition switch). So your ECU should not have been effected.

Heres your problem. Your Stereo does not require an ill to be wired in, probably because your Stereo's illumination is constant through the power (like mine was). The ill wire should have been capped or at least wrapped with electrical tape. With the ignition in the ACC or ON postion it has power running through it, but you left it hanging and it touched something in the car and grounded itself, when this happens it becomes super heated and can sometimes melt the insultator on the wire.

Some cars have the ill wire tapped into the lighting system. So that the stereo is illumintaed only when the lights are on. It seems in your case it was wired somewhere into the tail lights wiring (which makes sense, the taillights are on when the light switch is in the dim or on postion). With some much power running from the wire into the tail lights wiring, it was blowing out the fuses to protect itself. But you kept putting one in, which allowed that wire that was grounded to heat up again, and futher melt it.

You best bet it to follow the wire until you can find where it is still good. It should go back and towards the driver side under the dash. You can remove the kick panels on the side of the center consel with just 2-3 screws. Cut the ill wire so that you have only good wiring left and cap it or wrap the end with eletrical tape. Then replace the fuse for the tail lights and see if it keeps blowing. Remember where this wire is so that if you get a stereo that does require an ill wire, you can wire it again. If you do, you can PM me later and I will help you out there.

This information is based on stereo install expeirence that I've had on other cars, not specifically DSMs and the information you provided so far.

 

[AromaoGSX]

Ok ill try that but now if the taillights arent working could it be possibel that the wire that goes to them got burned to? And would i have to replace that wire also. How would i know which one is the one that goes to the taillights?

 

[laserspeeddemon]

It is possible but not likely. That is the purpose of the fuse, to stop that sort of damage. You need to take this one step at a time. Check what I said first, then come back and post more questions/comments.

 

[toybreaker]

Laserspeeddemon covered it nicely!!!!

Only thing I have to add is that you can buy adapter harnesses that plug right into where the factory radio did. It saves a lot of hassles, as all the wires are labeled. All you have to do is wire your aftermarket harness to it on the workbench, plug it into your headunit and then plug it into the cars original wiring.

Metra made mine..~ 5 bucks from local stereo shop.

I'll never have to strip wires inside the radio opening again!!!

 

[AromaoGSX]

Ok well i figured out that the green wire with a white strip coming from the car's harness is the one that burned. Its seems it burned pretty far down. The farthest ive gone to so far was where the wiring harness goes into a "T" behind the radio. Also in the past i had problems connecting my boost guage to my dimmer switch which lead to my cluster lights shorting out and not working but my taillights at that point worked. Well last night when i had everything apart i noticed that one of the wires to the dimmer that i cut into for the power to my boost gauge was also green with a white stripe. But that wire by the dimmer switch didnt seem burned at all. My question is where does that green with a white striped wire start and end? Where does that wire go to under the hood? I really didnt want to take apart the whole dash ### it seemed to be alot of screws. Is there any easyer way of doing this? I took out the ac part the cluster the shifter the radio and as far as i could reach was up to that "T" right behind the radio. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks alot guys.

Just to add a little bit of more history to what happened with the dimmer switch. Well when i tapped into the wires that they tell you to on the dimmer switch at first i hadnt put any electrical tape around the wires...yea i know very stupid..that was my mistake i couldnt find any and i just wanted to see if it worked. Well anyway then the lights went out on the cluster and then i took the cluster apart and unplugged the 3 plugs behind the cluster to see what it was. When i plug the dimmer plug back into the cluster it popped and started to smoke after that i had no power to my cluster. I replaced the fuse for the taillights because that blew. I put some electrical tape around the parts that needed it and my boost gauge had power but not the cluster. Then just the other day i went to install the system it seemed that my boost gauge had no power but it was just very dim maybe b/c it was tapped into the same line as the one that was just hanging behind the radio. Im not sure. It seemed that went i would put it loud i stated to see some smoke and smell it and thats how my wires started to burn. Hope this helped at at. But to sum it up i had my boost gauge tapped into the green and white wire behind my dimmer switch which then i believe went all the way down to by my radio and when i connected the radio harness adapter to the wires on car it seems to go to an illumination wire which my radio doesnt use.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Intresting....

Use a multimeter to test green/white wire from the dimmer switch and the the green/white wire from the radio have continuity.

 

[AromaoGSX]

when i tested it there were no volts going to any of it. But when i set the volt meter to the beeping setting not sure what its called it beeped and my friend said that its b/c it grounded itself somewhere. I also disconnected the bosst gauge from the green and white wire. I tryed after that to but a fuse in and once i turned the light switch up once it popped. I think also when i tested the green/white wire i think i remember it showing .45 volts which is hardly anything. Maybe thats why my boost gauge was so dim..Not sure though. That is .45 volts on dimmer switch side.

 

[AromaoGSX]

also could the green/white wire be responsible for the taillights also. Where would i be able to find a wiring diagram of the car?

 

[laserspeeddemon]

First things first, you need to find that wire and cap it, your best bet is to remove the kick-panels on the side of the center console, its easy and will give you a good view of the wires that are behind the radio.

 

[AromaoGSX]

this is the idea i have, from the main harnest it splits into 4 other green wires with a white stripe, what if i eliminate them one by one untill i find the bad wire, then if i find the bad whire, can i tap into the main green-white line and take direct power from there, i found 3 sets of burns, one behind the cluster, one by the radio, and the other is at the end of a clip, that goes directly into the fuse panel, (when i checked the line which runs into the fuse box, it tested that it was not grounder, however it was burned. Any advice would be helpful..thanks

 

[AromaoGSX]

well there was a green/white wire burned in 3 places by the fuse box under the sterring wheel...by the radio and also behind the dash. The one behind the radio was just cut to were the burned stopped. And the one on the plug by the fuse box was cut and it was cut also behind the dash and then reattached with a new wire. After taking the whole dash off the tailights started to work somehow. Not sure what made it start working maybe moving some of the wires around but after putting the whole dash back on the taillights arent working again can someone please help...getting very frustrated and i dont know what to do next. Also if there is anyone in my area that is willing to help me with this problem i will pay them i just want to get this problem done with. thanks alot

 

[AromaoGSX]

Anyone have any ideas or know any cheap places i could take my car to fix it? I live in central jersey.