[barth7]

Allrighty, I have been having some electrical issues of late. Here are the basics:

My initial electrical issue was when I had a short somewhere inside the bodywork of the two wires going from the hood latch micro switch to the fuse box. I was under the hood and noticed some smoking at the wires. I tried to separate and reinsulated the wires as much as I could get access to them, but was unable to. At this point I disconnected at the switch and then cut those two wires where they enter the fusebox.

Since then I have had the following electrical issues:

1. Blew a fuse to the wipers twice
2. Slow battery drain on two occasions (dead after 6 days)
3. Climate system fan remained on with key out.
4. Power windows work with the key out
5. Wipers work with the key out
6. Headlights stay in the up position. Can manually lower with the knobs on the motor, cannot push down. (I think this is unrelated to the other problems)
7. Airbag light is on (this happened when the battery died the second time and I had to jump off)

To remedy the fan situation, you can do three things:
1. Remove the fresh air blower relay
2. Remove fuse #8 (interior lights)
3. Remove Fuse #24 (wipers)
4. Unplug resistor in cowl area

I suspect that when the short to the hood latch occurred, I had some other wires get shorted together which are now supplying constant 12v to the problematic interior pieces. This could be under the fuse panel or elsewhere.

Let me know if you guys have any ideas. Thanks!

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[flash]

pretty sure your ignition switch or an ignition relay is the culprit - sounds like it is staying stuck in position 1

try pulling relay G2

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[barth7]

I pulled all the relays Saturday and I am certain the only relay that stopped the fan was the fresh air blower relay. I will try G2 again, though.

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[flash]

but the fan relay would not explain the windows or the wipers - i am looking for a common thread - the fans could be a separate problem altogether

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[barth7]

I haven't updated this, but have worked on it a couple of times to no avail. Currently, I am driving around without fuse 8 and manually winding down the headlamps. Life is good [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] (not really) I have another fuse box and I am thinking about swapping the whole thing out. Probably should let my mechanic look at it first, but he is 3 hours away. Last time I worked on it, I tried to unplug the ignition switch from the rear, but I don't think I ever was able to get it off. Is there an easy way to remove it from the front?

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[968TDG]

"I tried to unplug the ignition switch from the rear, but I don't think I ever was able to get it off."

go on...

(I'm sorry don't ban me)

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[Anchorman]

Just a word of (pre)caution - swapping the fuse box is a brutal job; I'd suggest you don't go there unless every other possibility has been eliminated. You'll be particularly unhappy if that doesn't cure the problem.

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[dkdm]

Not sure if you fixed your problem.

I had the exact same thing happen and I was able to fix it. The wiring that goes to the under hood light and washer nozzles is getting crushed/spliced by the hood hinge.
On mine it looked like someone rerouted the wiring after removing the hood for a cheap paint job and did not route the wires correctly.

In fact I'm still looking for a good picture of how these wires are suppose to go. ?????


I had to replace several wires going to the fuse panel, luckily I had pieces of an old harness I was able to keep colors/sizes correct.

Cheers,
Dave

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[rickh]

So, My poor girl's had the smoking wires on the hood latch switch too. I have inspected the wires for the hood light (which I don't have?) and they all look good. I'd hate to start tearing into the insulation of the wire loom to "further inspect" this area. I'd like to just snip the wires close to the fuse box like Darth7 did and be done with it but not sure how to determine which wires and where the wires are specifically located. Any help???



Thanks much!

Rick

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[flash]

while not helpful right now, i will be looking at these wires soon, as i want to install a switch under the hood that disables the hood light, but leaves the alarm pin intact



as for snipping the wires to the pin switch, i'm pretty sure that you need to close that circuit for your alarm to work, so in addition to snipping the ones to the switch, you would need to splice them together

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[DaveN]

Why all the effort for the hood light? I just pulled off the 2 spade connector and offset it by one pin and pushed it back on so it is not completing the cct and not flopping around. Is the existence of this bulb required to make the alarm cct operate properly?

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[flash]

no, the alarm works fine with the bulb disconnected, but not with the latch switch disconnected



i want the light, but as i am at a number of events with the hood up, and i don't want to have to continue to pull off the bulb cover (the black piece) and then unplug the bulb, i want a switch there so i can just flip it

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[DaveN]

I C. I just leave mine permanently crippled as it never provides any useful light. So far, that is, I have not been caught at night where I need to fiddle under the hood. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/unsure.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> I think an LED headlamp in the glove box would really be the ticket for that instance.

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[rxter]

This thing has an alarm? not much use in a Cab though. frankly I don't think car alarms provide any value today. The first 5 years they were available on Mercedes etc. they were different enough that people paid attention to them. If a car alarm went off in the hotel lot outside my window I'd just turn up the TV. No one pays any attention to them any longer. More a nuisance than anything IMHO. I guess that means I'll leave it unplugged. Maybe put some vasoline on the pins so they don't rust out.

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[flash]

the only time i would use it is if i was traveling, and in a place like we were in when we stayed in cambria - otherwise i find them quite annoying and useless

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[rickh]

My question is two fold. One, isn't this fused thus causing a fuse to blow before the wires start melting. And two, if the switch is closed when the hood is open, why would the wires fry if they got shorted? They are already "shorted" when the hood is opened, right? I'll admit, I'm not the electrical genius so I'm probably missing something basic. I just want to drive my car but I'm afraid a fire may ensue...

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[flash]

lol - i haven't checked to see if it is making ground or breaking ground - different cars do it differently - either way, the alarm will be affected if you snip those wires - when the hood pin switch gets goofy, it frequently sets off the alarm - easy enough to find out though - disconnect he switch, apply power to one side of the switch and a meter on the other, and then activate the switch - it will either make or break contact



i would look at the diagram, and trace the wires to find a point at which you could deal with them

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[rxter]

A few pictures regarding the original wiring for you boom while I was in there today.

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