2G Help needed - Interior wire harness

[GregoryRyan]

I recently purchased a 1997 Eclipse GST (picked it up for 220$), after starting to gut the interior I realized the interior wiring had been hacked up quite a bit. The problem I am having is on the driver side by the fuse box, I can't seem to figure out how to get the harness unhooked. Does this harness route into the doors? From what I can tell this thing routes into the engine somehow, or am I mistaken? I feel like I am in a bit over my head at this point and could really use some help getting this thing out. If anyone needs additional details please let me know. I am really at a loss right now.

Here are some pictures of where I am at right now...

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[dustyboner]

pretty much all the harnesses plug into that fuse panel . your gonna have to unmount it because a there are plugs on the back too. you have to take off the nut at the bottom and at the top you can either lift up the clip and slide it off the bracket or just on bolt the bracket.
if your pulling the harnesses, the dash has one harness attached to it and the other is secured to the cross brace the dash sits on.

for now have a look at THIS HERE

edit : im kinda a dumbass cause i just noticed you already have the dash out.

 

[GregoryRyan]

Thank you so much for responding, I appreciate your help 100%!!

Right now I am trying to remove the harness that is attached to the cross brace the dash sits on, it's so hacked up I don't think I could repair it if I wanted to. Regarding the fuse panel, I have unbolted the bottom screw but can't seem to see or locate a bolt on top nor can I seem to get that thing to move/budge/anything out of my way. Any tips on getting the fuse box removed? Based on the document you linked (thank you very much for that... it's very helpful) it looks like this harness routes into the door? Am I going to have to pull the harness out of the door or is there a connector that makes this less of a pain?

 

[dustyboner]

so here is the front and back layout of the fuse panel

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Here is the a close up of the top of it, I highlighted (in pink) the tab that you pry up to release it.
once you get it pryed up, you have to pull the fuse box staight back towards you .

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[GregoryRyan]

Alright I’ll give that a shot. Only other thing I need to verify is if this harness routes into the door. Looking at the document it almost seems that there is a connector at the door hinge of some sort, but looking at it in person the wire from the harness just runs straight into the door.

 

[dustyboner]

there is, give me a few minutes to find one and i'll get you a picture

 

[dustyboner]

this is what it looks like from inside the car, (passenger side is white, drivers side is black).

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this if from the fist picture you posted up, see the screw head in the middle of the pic?, that is one side of the plastic piece (black on drivers side)

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[GregoryRyan]

dustyboner (that is one funny name I have to say) I want to really say thanks, your guidance helped so much. I spent about an hour tonight and got all of the driver's side harness removed. With your helpful tips and guidance, it was still a bit of a pain but went over all smoothly. I do however have a few follow-on questions, Ill number them to make it a bit easier to answer.

1. There is one remaining plug coming down from under the clutch pedal that seemingly has about 3/5 wires coming to the plug but has a dozen or so wires coming off the plug that has been all hacked up. This plug was taped up and was not plugged into anything. Any idea what this is?

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Here is an overhead picture of it to get an idea of where it's coming from and how hacked up it is.

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2. I'm assuming the remaining part of this harness from the radio, ECU and climate control all the way across the passenger side are fairly straightforward? Based on what I have seen and scoped out it doesn't look like I should run into any other tricky parts?

3. When I put the new harness back in should I start from the driver's side and work my way to the passenger's side?

4. There are a bunch of zip ties, zip tie screw things and such, when I put the new harness back in should I worry about securing the harness like it was? Or will a couple of zip ties to hold the loose parts down be good? If you suggest me to replace the cut existing tie down things, any ideas where I can get replacements?

Finally, here is a picture of the driver's side all pulled up. Thanks again dustyboner, couldn't have gotten this far without you!

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[BoostedTalonTS]

1. There is one remaining plug coming down from under the clutch pedal that seemingly has about 3/5 wires coming to the plug but has a dozen or so wires coming off the plug that has been all hacked up. This plug was taped up and was not plugged into anything. Any idea what this is?

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That's from an old Clifford alarm system. You can remove it & all of the wiring that's connected to it.

Pay attention to the outboard relay that has a white/brown, green, & two 12AWG white/red wires coming out of it... that is the starter interrupt relay (a basic function of most car alarms of that generation). Be sure to reconnect the two 12 AWG white/red wires back together, as they go up to your ignition switch main harness and interrupt the factory starter wire there.

 

[dustyboner]

dustyboner (that is one funny name I have to say

i have a few other names i go by online, like dickcox, spanky mcbonerson, and bonertron.


1. the plug in the first picture isn't a mitsubishi connector, it looks like its for an alarm

2. I can't think of anything. Take pictures so you can look back at them to make sure you have the new stuff routed properly.

3. yup. start with the white plastic piece that goes over the steering column. once that is secured, you can really go either way.

4. Zip ties will work. just make sure everything is secured and routed so that nothing will get pinched or smashed when you put the dash back on.

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since your car has the anti-theft / keyless entry option, make sure your new harness came from a car that also has the keyless entry. otherwise you will run into problems. well unless you swap all the harnesses.
i doubt there are many 97 GSTs that don't have it but just make sure.

 

[GregoryRyan]

Dustyboner (or any of those other bonerific names you go by ) What part of the harness tells you it has keyless entry etc? I’m ordering the harness from http://www.millerimportparts.com/ and he said he would match my car down to the make model and transmission type. Just want to make sure I can give him the right information.

BoostedTalon I am replacing the whole harness will I still need to worry about re wiring these wires you mentioned? Or are you referring to the wires off this Cliffard alarm plug that ran to other things, and those things I need to make sure get re wired. If so I may post some pictures for confirmation.

Again, thanks for your help and answering my questions (I’m sure I’ll have a few more).

 

[dustyboner]

What part of the harness tells you it has keyless entry etc?

you have the theft-alarm relays, that mean you also have keyless entry.

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on the (B) harness there are 3 different part numbers for your car. there should be a paper tag, taped on the harness that has the part number. It will be one of these:
MR243741
MR243747
MR234749
if you cant find it, get me the option code off the sticker on the firewall and i'll look it up for you. (No. 5 in below pic)

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[GregoryRyan]

Gotcha, I have notified Stevie over at MillerImports and he is going to take care of it, thanks for giving me a heads up.

On to the update, so I spent another couple hours tonight and finally got the entire wire harness out. Man o man was that a bi*** to remove. After spending some time trying to route the harness out of the center console area I finally decided to remove the side braces, once that was done the rest was a breeze. I do have a couple of quick questions, once again Ill number them for ease of answering.

1. The little brackets that hold the four to five plugs right in front of the ECU, they are the ones that seem to slide onto little metal bracket thingy. How and the hell do you remove these plugs from those brackets without having to basically pry them off? Any tips?

2. I went ahead and pulled the ECU, pulled the cover off and I am not sure if this thing looks alright or not. I'll link a few pictures to show how it looks.

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3. While my ECU is out is there anything I should have done to it? Only things I really plan to do is possibly upgrade the turbo to a 16g, little bit more boost, and basic bolt-ons such as FMIC, intake, and exhaust. Just really want to make sure I do stuff while this crap is out of the car.

4. While I have the dash, and wiring harness out and everything, is there anything else I should do while I am in here? Same with number three, I just want to make sure that once I put this stuff back in that I won't need to get into this stuff again. I do eventually plan to run a few AEM gauges such as boost, oil pressure, fuel pressure, water temp, and possibly voltage, anything I should do to prep for these sorts of things? Other modifications or eliminations I should do?

Again, and I know I keep saying it, but you guys have been spot on with the help and I really thank you. At the beginning I almost threw my hands up, but with both your help I have made a lot of progress.

 

[dustyboner]

okay so if you look at the pic below, there is the little piece that locks the connector to the metal bracket. you can cut it to make removing the connector easier. see the red triangle i drew in the picture, it is the basic shape of the plastic piece from a side view. the green line would represent a blade. so you basically cut most of the edge off of the plastic. if you look where the red arrow is, you can see a faint line where it was cut. hopefully you get what im saying.

the screw driver in the pic is a little too big but if you have the right size, slide it in where the one is in the picture and pull up on the connector (it helps to wiggle it side to side a little when pulling) .

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it will still be secure when you put the connector back on the bracket because the part (in orange boxes in pic below) will wedge against the bracket.

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as far as the ecu, i didn't notice anything in the pictures.

There are examples of possible damage and shiit like @
https://www.ecmtuning.com/wiki/ecurepairhome
It should give you a good idea of what to look for


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i took a better look at the pics of your ecu. its hard to tell from the picture but if you look at capacitor C201, on the top left of the cap. , it looks like it might be leaking. it kinda looks like there is a brown area on the board. i would take a close look at it.

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[GregoryRyan]

Found a slight spot after checking the capacitor you mentioned (it was just a shadow from the picture, the capacitor is just fine), any ideas on if this could be a problem or not? Its the spot next to the chip with the Mitsubishi logo on it. From what I can tell the connections look alright but wanted to get your opinion.

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[dustyboner]

i think that is just the coating coming off.
try scraping it off with your finger nail. it should come off without much effort. if the PCB is clean underneath the coating its nothing to worry about