2G I'm in way deep. Electrical

[DrunkMonk33]

Hey guys, I bought a 98 GST spider a week or so ago and I've been working on it slowly. I'm trying to get all of the electrical things working like the window, convertible top, fuel gauge and radio. I took off the arm rest area and was exposed to a jumbled mess of wires. I knew I would be in for a treat when I noticed an aftermarket gauge cluster but this is a bit overwhming. My main focus is getting the windows top and radio working. Any help would be a blessing.

 

[Turbo2g]

We have no way of knowing what those wires are or what's been added/removed. Post a pic maybe. Your best bet is to locate a wiring diagram for the circuits you are tying to fix and learn how to read it and check for powers and grounds.

Windows and convertible top could be the individual motors or the regulators that move them on their path or even their switch. Is your fuel gauge is part of this aftermarket gauge cluster? I'd start by pulling the cluster and making sure the connection there is good. It may have never been hooked up.

Here's what I do when trying to diagnose a window not operating. If absolutely nothing happens, no noise or movement, I start with the switch. Remove the control from the door (aka the switch). and use an alternate source of power/ground through the wiring for the window you are on. If it moves the motor then the switch was bad. If not, the motor is bad (so long as the wiring to is is not interrupted.
If there is motor noise, but no movement, it's the regulator, or the gears from the motor or regulator are stripped. Get the door panel apart enough to see what you can. Either way, if you have a good switch and power/ground to the motor, Id replace both the motor and regulator as a unit. They come together most of the time for similar price.

 

[Turbo2g]

Also the process for an electric convertible top is similar. You check that the switch is working. If you get motor noise after bypassing the switch, replace the switch. If not, the motor. If the motor runs but can't make the top move, its got a bad regulating device (the tracks/rods that it moves with).

 

[motomattx]

Can you put the top down manually? the top motors get water intrusion that locks up the planetary gearset within the motor assembly itself.

 

[chrysler kid]

The radio harness can be a mess, but it's all relatively simple. Purchase a new connector to wire up to the radio harness off if ebay

 

[techboy]

My first reaction to your OP is there shouldn't be a bunch of wires in the armrest area. That area is actually pretty devoid of wires. There's like a small light on the ash tray and a yellow (I think) wrapped cable that feeds a box down by the emergency brake. Is there an aftermarket alarm installed on the car? I've purchased two cars in the past with those stupid Viper alarm systems installed and the amount of additional wires involved is unbelievable - takes forever to trace everything and rip it all out.

If you can ID what doesn't belong, trace it back to where it is tapped into the OEM harness of the car, cut it out and remove it. Get some shrink tube, slide it on, solder the OEM connections back together and then cover with the shrink tube to prevent shorting. Oh, and, you can use the continuity setting on a multimeter to check for broken connections as well.

I agree with Trubo2G, post up a pic so we can see what's going on.

 

[chrysler kid]

No there's a shit ton of them if the factory amp has been deleted. It may look like a mess at first but once you tape up all of the old harness for the missing factory amp it's pretty straight forward.

The original factory radio had 2 different connectors on the back of it. The one on the drivers driver's side was for the power and speaker output, the one on the passengers side was for amp output. To my understanding the amp received the output from the factory radio and boosted output to the speakers.

It is my recollection you can leave the right side un hooked

Try to stump me about wiring on a 2g, I dare ya

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[DrunkMonk33]

We have no way of knowing what those wires are or what's been added/removed. Post a pic maybe. Your best bet is to locate a wiring diagram for the circuits you are tying to fix and learn how to read it and check for powers and grounds.

Windows and convertible top could be the individual motors or the regulators that move them on their path or even their switch. Is your fuel gauge is part of this aftermarket gauge cluster? I'd start by pulling the cluster and making sure the connection there is good. It may have never been hooked up.

Here's what I do when trying to diagnose a window not operating. If absolutely nothing happens, no noise or movement, I start with the switch. Remove the control from the door (aka the switch). and use an alternate source of power/ground through the wiring for the window you are on. If it moves the motor then the switch was bad. If not, the motor is bad (so long as the wiring to is is not interrupted.
If there is motor noise, but no movement, it's the regulator, or the gears from the motor or regulator are stripped. Get the door panel apart enough to see what you can. Either way, if you have a good switch and power/ground to the motor, Id replace both the motor and regulator as a unit. They come together most of the time for similar price.

I found out the 57 thing is some sort of light dimmer for the the gauge cluster. But the rest is a mess of random wires and electrical tape. I found 2 ground wires they aren't connected to anything as well as some RCA wires that also weren't connected to anything.

 

[Turbo2g]

You have a short throw shifter . It seems that mess has to do with the installation of that aftermarket cluster you mentioned. Try to trace the wires from the fuel level sending unit and see if they got cut or messed up in that wiring. Maybe they screwed something up in there.

What kind of gauges are on the cluster?

 

[DrunkMonk33]

You have a short throw shifter . It seems that mess has to do with the installation of that aftermarket cluster you mentioned. Try to trace the wires from the fuel level sending unit and see if they got cut or messed up in that wiring. Maybe they screwed something up in there.

What kind of gauges are on the cluster?

I'm not sure, I think the brand is AC autothechnic.

 

[jinscho]

I found out the 57 thing is some sort of light dimmer for the the gauge cluster. But the rest is a mess of random wires and electrical tape. I found 2 ground wires they aren't connected to anything as well as some RCA wires that also weren't connected to anything.

From the looks of it, none of that wiring is from the factory harness. I'd suggest tracing it all back to the source and ripping it out. It's very likely the previous owner had an aftermarket sound system that was poorly removed.

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These wires definitely don't belong.

 

[techboy]

The black wire loom in the picture above is the one I was thinking was yellow, but it's obviously black. And the little light in the black wrap in the back of the photo in the ash try light I was talking about. The rest of it, jinscho, is right - is not factory and can go. You got butt and spade connectors in there - that's a dead give away.

I hate dealing with cars from people that don't know how to wire and don't do it neatly.