1G Help me electrical short

[Skippysnax]

I installed a 10" slim mishimoto fan last night with the stock wiring harness. i was out driving for a while and after i stopped at the gas station the car wouldn't start. I unplugged the fan harness and it started right up. I then proceeded home and the lights began to dim and afr dropped slowly to 16:1 then 17 and then unreadable. The car started stumbling and i pulled over and it was almost completely dead. I have narrowed the problem to what i think is an unrelated short in one of the harnesses off the battery. When I have the one harness that has two big white wires connected my volt meter is reading 12v from the negative terminal to the ground wires. My question is what are these wires? Car is a 1989/90 Eagle Talon. Thanks in advance.

 

[1davho]

Is this with the battery hooked up? Sounds like you don't have a ground. I don't know how you checked that exactly but I would still be testing the alternator instead. Fans draw a lot of amperage and you may have had just enough voltage left to start the car without the fan running.

 

[eDeclpse92]

Did you check the altenator fuse? I'd start simple and cheap first. If that fuse goes out then you only have battery life which sounds like what happened with your car dying on you. If you are concered for a short I would check for resistance with your multi-meter (assuming you have one) and check the wires that connect to the altenator and your fan since you just changed that. FYI, I was always told in autoshop when you check for resistance, you should unplug your car battery so you dont blow a fuse in your multi-meter. The multi-meter will supply it's own current to check for resistance.