Mentat Ghola

A friend bought a 2000 civic, which must have had the alarm yanked right before the sale.
The tail light wiring harness was all messed up. I fixed it, but theres a problem. The fuse sporadicaly blows. Im pretty sure this is because of the alarm.
I can tell it was uninstalled badly, the antenna is hanging out by the rear-view mirror, the fron doors lock and unlock when you put the key in the on position, and out of it, respectively. The alarm LED light is ALWAYS on.
My guess is, that the alarm wiring they left behind is tripping the tail light circtuit. They got to hack into that circuit to make the lights blink when you arm/disarm, so Im thinking one of the wires left behind is making contact with ground, and shorting the circuit.
But, Ive never done an alarm install, so where do people usualy tap into the lighting circuit?
Where should I check for left-over wiring?

DCRB

if the doors automatically lock and unlock when the key is turned on then off, the alarm is most likely there. it is possible it is installed but damaged, or the install was shotty and wires are shorting out, causing the random fuse blow-age, but AFAIK factory alarms in honda's dont lock the doors when the key is turned on, and unlock them when the key is turned off.

Matt93eg

I agree with this...if they yanked the alarm brain then its not going to still lock/unlock the doors when the ignition switch is turned on or off. The alarm brain controls this function. Probably just a shitty installation.

As for the parking lights, your correct. You tap into the wire for the park lights. On a 2000 Civic it should be Red/Black and should be able to be found on the drivers running board or behind the rear 1/4 panel cover. There might be more than one wire this color. The best way to make sure you have the right one is to strip some insulation off of the suspected wire and check it with a multimeter.

Good luck with this, figuring out previous electrical work that is shitty can be a nightmare to work out and get right. Could be other various wire connections shorting out causing the fuse to pop. If they solder but use crappy electrical tape it won't last, shitty electrical tape is barely sticky from the get go and then just weakens more and will come off leaving the connection bare. Thats why I use good electrical tape and heat shrink.

to people and there shitty alarm installs and other electrical work.

Mentat Ghola

Yeah you guys are probably right, that alarm is probably still there. Im gonna try to isolate all the foreign wiring that I find, Ill update once I get to work on the car again.

Matt93eg

Good luck man.

Mentat Ghola

the plot thickens. Seems like the alarm is working good. Got a remote, had it programmed, now hes got an alarm. BUT, I found some fog light wiring. Yet, there are no fog lights on the car. The red/white wire from the electrical plug from the lights on the steering wheel (you know what I mean?) is tapped, it goes down to a 15 amp fues, all improvised, into a plug which plugs into the fog light button, theres also a relay hanging out there. I unplugged the relay, everything works, so obviously its a non-operative system. From thre there is a blue/red wire going to the fuse block.
Is this a suspect? The fuse still pops sporadicaly, once every 2 dayse, sometimes more often. I still havent found where the alarm taps into the lighting circuit. What to do?

Mentat Ghola

One more thing, its important.
With the key out of the car, if you hit the brakes, the brake lights come one, the parking lights go on,e and the radio turns on. The car makes that beeping noise like when you live the lights on and take out the key. SO, the brake lights must be somewhere tapped into the parking light circuit. But where should I look?

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

Wow, sounds like you could really benefit from an Electrical Troubleshooting Manual. Thankfully, this is part of the Helms Manual for 6th Gen Civics that you can download.

Now, I'm no expert on alarm installs, but it does seem reasonable that the majority of the wiring for the alarm is going to be behind the dash and under-dash. If you can figure out the alarm brand/model, this will also help as you might be able to download the install manual. Previous owner might have this too, but if he did that alarm install himself he sounds like a bit of a chump.

Weakbyyou

definitely sounds like a shoddy install! most wiring should be under the dash and most hondas have a factory alarm harness(even if it did not have a factory alarm) it is grey under the drivers side dash. you can usually find locks, parking lights everything there. it sounds like they tied the parking like wire from the alarm to the brake lights for some reason. your best bet would be to print out the vehicle wiring colors and get the wiring colors for the alarm. try www.the12volt.com

also the lights in honda work on a 12volt source, but locks are actually negative. so they constantly are seeing 12volts and lock or unlock when that wire sees a ground

Mentat Ghola

the alarm is a viper 350. I have the helms manual downloaded, gonna trace the lighting ciruicts from source to ground.