JuicedUpRice

I went on a number of runs yesterday,and out of nowhere my turn signals stopped working..
I found the fuse blown under my dash,replaced it,and they were back to working.I went to the liquor store to get some beer,and had noticed a smell that was choking me out hardcore.by the time I pulled up,I had smoke billowing out from my dash.I couldn't breathe and was hella choking out,so i freaked,and shut the car off.got my beer,drove it back home(I'm only right down the block),and when I got home it was smoking out of my dash and steering wheel again.I checked the fuse again and it was melted into the socket!

Obviously I have a bad electrical short,but does anyone know what wires to trace back?I got this car as an electrical mess,so I'm not positive on where to look.

Fcm,I need ya buddy.I know you know where to look.thanks for any help.

fcm

How about we start with MM&Y of the car????

If there is smoke the damaged wiring will be easy to find and obviously it is going to be the dash harness.

Question, did you replace the signal light fuse with the correct size fuse or a "bigger" one?

More then likely you are looking at a dash pull and replacing the dash harness, not a massive job but will take some time.

To be safe, [keep from burning car to the ground] disconnect the batt., [if you have not already] there is a very good possibility the short you had with ign. on, has damaged wiring that is 12V+ constant, [hot at all times] and may short out even with the ign. off.

I would definatly not turn the ign. on again untill repairs are made. 94

JuicedUpRice

91 integra Ls
I have not messed with anything lately.it happened completely random.
I replaced the fuse with the same size 10amp.it was a hazard light fuse.my hazards work fine.I have since pulled the fuse,and no smoke occurs with it out.I'm hoping my wiring isn't too f'd,everything is still fine,just no turn signals..

The last thing I did under the dash was a new ignition switch harness,and the car was stolen soon after..but that was maybe 4-5 months ago.everything has been fine though until now..

JuicedUpRice

i just went and had a look under the dash and found the wire immediately.

it looks to be a red w/ylw striped wire,or vise versa.i cant tell because it has barely any coating on it,its just a bare wire..its leading to a red plug above the in-dash fuses.


what does this tell me?
should i just tape the wire up and assume it was touching something,or does this mean i need to go deeper,as in something is overpowering the wire??

**edit**
now when i replace the fuse,the turn signals do not work.wtf man..this sucks..
my car is just problem after ****** problem..

so im guessing that my harness is destroyed
let me know if you think otherwise,thanks..

fcm

Red/yellow will be signal light power and back-up lights power, for the signal lights it runs from fuse 1 - 10A, [hot in run and start] in under dash fuse box to the hazard switch, for the back-up lights it runs from the fuse to the back-up light switch on transmission, [5 speed] or A/T Gear Position Switch, [auto].

At the very least you will need to pull the cluster trim to access the hazard switch harness plug and the under dash fuse box along with the drivers lower dash trim/bolster, fallow the yellow/red from the hazard switch back to its plug in the under dash fuse box opening any harnessing, [electric tape/convoluted tubing] to replace that lead and any others running along with the yellow/red that may have been damaged.

Hint, if you find, [as you most likely will] other leads "stuck" to whatever is left of the yellow/red DO NOT just pull them apart, do it carefully and use a razor blade where insulation has melted together, it is better to leave melted yellow/red insulation on the other leads, [once separated clean off as much as you can] if you pull too hard to separate wires you will pull insulation of leads that there is nothing wrong with other then som insulation from the yellow/red.

Once you have things apart a little, take a pic of damage.94

JuicedUpRice

ok..im getting into it now.ill get some pics up.

i just tried turning the hazards on,and it made some weird buzzing noise as they were "flashing"(it was an off kind of flashing..),so i quickly turned them back off.they were working fine earlier today,i dont get it..

how does something like this just happen?is it my fault?is my car just getting old?

this is very saddening..

**edit**
upon further inspection,i found it to actually be a yellow wire with a red stripe.it goes to a fat red plug above the fuses.ive got the cluster trim off,looked at the wires behind the hazard switch,they are all intact and look fine.its the deep one under the dash that is all f'd(bare wire)

here are pics under dash of the bare wire(it looks like a red wire,but my camera is just crappy sorry..)






and here is behind the hazard switch


let me know if you have any suggestions on where i should go from here,because im having a hard time following the wire to each other..
for now,i guess ill just get my voltmeter on it and see if im getting power etc..

JuicedUpRice

I will continue to update with whatever i find.im pretty confused with this.. this is a situation i have not been through before,but i think im getting closer to finding the culprit.

i have about +15v at the bare ylw/red wire in accII<--seems abnormally high i think..
+6v showing at the green/white wire behind the hazard switch with the key in accII <--Ive had a similar situation with an ignition harness on my friend's 90 integra,in which one of the hot wires were supposed to present +12v,but only showed +6v..is this what i need to trace back then?or is +6v normal in this case?

fcm

Sorry at work right now, will get back to you as soon as I get home.

What is the voltage at the batt.?

15V is high, 6V on a burnt wire is not abnormal, heat produces resistance at connection points, resistance will drop voltage.

Check voltage at the batt. with ign. off, on and with engine running. 94

JuicedUpRice

no problem man,i appreciate the help.

12.73v with car off
11.63v in accII
14.59v with car running


sorry,i must have misread the readings last night

bare ylw/red wire under dash= -15.6v in accII,I also get the same reading behind the hazard switch.continuity is present.
green/white wire behind hazard switch= i keep getting different readings(or im doing something wrong)..sometimes shows -10v with car off,-19v in accII.sometimes shows as low as -6v in accII..i dont know whats going on..

ive got my manual in hand,so ill try to give any more information as i go.

i put the hazard switch back in,and turned it on.they are working fine
I have no voltage to the back up lights/turn signal fuse.


when i go to check for continuity at turn signal switch,i have continuity between a&b but not a&c(or vise versa,the manual was not clear)..

fcm

At the hazard switch there are 2 power leads, hazard power, white/green, [hot at all times] voltage should be the same as batt. voltage, [off/on/running] maybe a little less, [resistance] the other is the yellow/red, [hot in run and start] but comes from fuse 1-20A, if your not reading voltage at the fuse when the ign. is on, I am guessing the burnt lead may be the input to the fuse box for that circuit.

You said the lead runs to a red plug at the top of the fuse box, it may also be the output to the back-up lights.

Where does it come from, I can not tell from the pic exactly where that is?

As mentioned, 15V is too high 19V is way too high, just under 15V should be max, [engine running] 12.5V with everything off, because batt. voltage seems OK, [other then the 12.73 with everything off] I am guessing your doing something wrong when testing the leads inside the car, or meter is not working properly.

You should not read more then 12.73V as it is all you have at the batt.

A wire that burns that bad has been shorted out to ground at some point.

Also, when you are saying "-15.6v, -10v ,-19v" is the - just a typo and you mean + or do you just have your meter probes backwards/reversed?

I am going to look up the wiring in alldata to see if I can get a better idea of the power distribution, Haynes is OK but it is incomplete.

Confirm voltage or not at fuse 1, [signal light fuse] with ign. on.

Your problem is not after the hazard switch, all wiring for hazards and signals are common after the hazard switch, the problem has to do with that burnt yellow/red, as there is not damage to wiring to the hazard switch I am guessing it is wiring to the back-up light switch.
Find the back-up light switch and check the wiring to it. 94

JuicedUpRice

soooo...first thing i did was check the backup light switch wiring,and i found this..

i moved them,but the wires were sitting against the tranny..the yellow wire specifically.and they were not connected,as shown.


i was reading some things wrong,so ill get the actual readings right now.i was testing the wrong grn/white wire.sorry for the confusion.these are guaranteed the correct readings now lol..


fuse 1(which is actually a 10amp) = No voltage anytime.
ylw/red wire - no voltage anytime.tested behind the hazard switch and the part where it is bare under the dash.
white/grn wire - hot at all times +12.7v.tested behind the hazard switch.

From what I can see(it goes deep up there,hard to trace back),the ylw/red wire comes from that red plug at the top of the fuse box,then travels up towards the fender,into a bundle of wires.I don't know where it comes from before the red plug..i do have continuity from that plug to the back of the hazard switch,that's really all I can say,I'm sorry.if there is a specific way you would like me to take a picture,let me know and I will take it.

JuicedUpRice

bump..??

where does it come from before the fuse block??as in where does the turn signal fuse get it's power from?

fcm

The yellow/red, [red plug on fuse box] is the output from fuse 1, [alldata also says 10A]

At some point after where it goes into the harness it splits to the hazard switch and yellow out to the engine bay and the back-up light switch, if the yellow was touching ground it was the short.

It is a good bet that the yellow/red and possibly the yellow that splits off of it to go the the back-up light switch are damaged in the harness, and possibley other leads.

Is the yellow red burnt all the way into the harness, [as far as you can fallow it] or is it undamaged/burnt befor it disapears? 94

JuicedUpRice

the ylw/red is uncoated as far up as into the loom.its a good 5 inches or so that i can see is uncoated,before i cant see it anymore..

ive been looking at it all day so far,and i have found a few hot wires cut and not taped in the engine bay with the lights wiring..ugh..its a mess.im sure the wiring has been tampered with,and rigged up here and there..

i did try one thing that got my turn signals working,but i really dont wanna burn this thing down if i rig it..
what i did was jumped 12v from my amp to the ylw/red behind the hazard switch,and they worked..is it a bad idea?

fcm

I am guessing if you are not getting power at fuse 1, [signal light power] there is damage to the fuse box, power to that fuse is supplied by the black/yellow on the same red plug, is there a black/yellow right next to the burnt yellow/red on that red plug.

If so test it for power with ign. switch on, it shold have power it is common with the black yellow at the distributor.

If it has power, cut the burnt yellow/red, [leaving enough to connect a lead to] and plug the red plug back into the fuse box and test for power on the #1 fuse again.

If there is power on fuse 1 there should also be power on the cut yellow/red lead at the red plug, if so connect an extention from it to the yellow/red at the hazard switch, but cut the yellow/red off the hazard switch so power can not "backfeed" into the damaged yellow/red, if you want back-up lights you can parallel lead off the yellow/red at the red plug and run it to the back-up light switch to replace the yellow lead, the green/black would still go to the back-up lights.

The above would be a temporary fix to get you back on the road, with the wiring damage and cut leads and, "the wiring has been tampered with,and rigged up here and there.." I would look at just replacing the damaged harnesses, it may be an expence now but in the long run it will end up saving you time and money.

Wiring harnesses from PicknPull are no more then $36.99, any large harness from any car "med" harnesses are $25.99 and "small" ones are $13.49.

I am guessing you can replace all the harnesses in your car for under $100. 94

JuicedUpRice

Thanks a lot for your time and help,man.you def know your ****.

I'm back on the road

fcm

94