Crazy electric problems!?!?!? NEED HELP!

[2G_RFF_GST]

this is probably the weirdest thing i've ever seen. and also my first DSM problem. and i JUST got it monday. figures it starts already. anyway, So i bought a cd deck today. my friend takes tons of "car classes" for his major and he's done the electric stuff. so i let him do all the work. simple stuff right? anyway, we get everything hooked up find. and we get to the last wire. the ground wire. there are 3 left comming from the car, and only the ground left from the deck. and, there is some gray cord that looks like the radio, but it's not, cuz that's the bigger black one. and then there is also some BIG black cord that looks like it hooks up to the computer. we didn't use those. and none of the reg 3 wires looked like grounds. there was, "illumination" "grounding dimmer" and the last 2 were both red, and the "grounding dimmer had a black stripe. and there was a light blue one that had no partner. anyway, since none were black or said just ground (we tested the "grounding dimmer" but it didn't work) my friend spliced the ground that goes to the cigarette lighter. so we get everything hooked up. cig lighter still works, cd player works. but... my gauges don't light up! so i have no clue how fast i'm going at night. and the instrument cluster in the center console doesn't light up. it's REALLY weird cuz all the idiot lights work, just the guages don't. the cig lighter still has power and works, but it doesn't light up with the rest of the gauges. we checked basiclly EVERY fuse and none were bad. WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY CAR!?!?!??!?

 

[Slapnut]

sounds like you grounded a wire that isn't suppose to be grounded. You should see if you can get a wiring harness that plugs right into the stock plugs, if you haven't removed them.

 

[2G_RFF_GST]

i have the wirring harness

 

[Slapnut]

ok here is a site that has wiring diagrams for our cars, sorry but your gonna have to do the leg work on looking up the wires. http://www.geocities.com/berserko_1/c50 this has some awsome stuff, when it doesn't exceed it bandwith.

 

[l3igl3ang]

i to had this problem but it was a fuse for me. did you check the ones under the hood? and mine did this when installing the radio to the car cig ground as well.

maybe you need to unhook it from that ground and ground it to the cars frame and check all the fuses again real close.

 

[2G_RFF_GST]

the link was EXACTLY what needed, but... only prob... it's for 1G's. mine's a 2G. and... what fuses should i check under the hood?

 

[99gst_racer]

Who is your friend that did the work (if you don't mind me asking)?

 

[l3igl3ang]

i checked all mine i belive i had 2 blowen fuses one was under the hood in a yellow clilp that held 2 fuses i replaced it and still didnt work then i start checking the fuses in the car and found another blown one and replaced it then it worked.

i know the one in the car is on the middle row of fuses.

 

[2G_RFF_GST]

my buddy chris mowell did it. it's not really his fault though. i got impatient and told him to just choose a wire instead of grounding it to the frame. and he grounded it to the "illumination" wire. oh and... my rear lights are out. reverse lights work. brake lights work. driving lights don't. so i think it just might be one of the relays? i dunno. i'm gunna try that and check the fuses in the "yellow thing" cuz i already checked it out tonight, but i couldnt' see anything in the dark. so i couldn't tell if they were blown or not. we spent about 4 hours or so checking every cord in the dash for loose connections and checked all the fuses under the dash. so i'm hoping the fuse or relay under the hood is blown. and not the whole circuit being fried. cuz i talked to the guys from sound creation and best buy and they both said they've seen something like that. where the whole gauge cluster and center console was wired on the same circuit and all burnt out(not a fuse) and had to be relpaced by the dealership. aka expensive as a mo fo. hopefully that's not my case. and i guess the same thing happened to DJ, but he has a 1G. so i dunno.

 

[speed127]

Hey brother.... funny I had the same broblem in my car about a month ago. My dash lights were not working, along with my front side markers and rear lights. The reverse lights are on a diferent line. Anyway my father-inlaw- helped me trace the lines and we found a short that took out everything. Send me your email address ([email protected]) and I'll send you a copy of the entire wiring diagrams for all 2g cars. As far as the fuse under the hood, on my car it was far right side, bottom. that was the fuse that kept blowing since I had a short. O, GOOD LUCK!!! It took an intire day to trace the lines.WTF

 

[eclipsemustang]

i had the same problem my guages and taillights didnt work and i traced it and it was because the previous owner of my car left the wires just hangin under the steerin colum and they became disconnected so dont worry its most likely nothing major wrong with the car

 

[2G_RFF_GST]

GOOD NEWS!!!! Fixed the problem. Turns out it was just a fuse. First 2 times i checked it was at night so i couldn't tell it was blown. But, once i found out my rear lights were out it was just a matter of checking that fuse, and sure enough, somehow the sidemarkers, rear lights, and dash are all on the same circuit. thanks for all the tips. it was just a stupid mistake. i also found out how it happened. apparantly i left some wires hanging when we installed my deck and i didn't see them. WHOOPS! haha. Looks like this was just a dumb newbie mistake.

thanks for all the help.