so while i was searching for an ef shell i found aguy selling his b16 ef hatch for 1000...but hes saying that one day he was driving and something happened and the car stopped...he said that eight wires got burnt in the wire harness...what would generally cause this? cuz i really want this car iyts almost like an offer i cant refuse...also will anything happen to the ecu if the wires get burnt?

 

Everything should be fused, providing its stock, and the ecu should not be burnt, but change the wires, and inspect the ecu board

 

bad connection, faulty wires? just make sure you take ur time and do it right

 

ok well im gonna go check the car out tomorrow...what should i look for as far as damage that may have occurred as the result of the burnt wires? what would cause the wires to burn? is it a short or something? why eight not just one? sorry so many questions i just dont want to end up buyin a car that needs a lot more work than it appears to have...

also if maybe u guys could answer my other question

https://honda-tech.com/zeropost...41056

thanks

 

check to see if there are any blown fuses.. because fuses should blow before wires burn.. but not if you have fuse points jumped. do you know where the wiring was burned? either way $1k for the car isnt too bad..

 

Well for instance on the car I just bought, the previous owner messed up the stereo wiring. Somewhere the dome light wire was grounding out either pinched around a sharp point touching bare metal chassis, or touching another wire with melted insulation, or from the stupid twist wire connections with electric tape. Way up in the dash several bare wires were all touching. The dome light wire melted all the way to the fuse block, yet the dome light still barely worked. With the switch in the center position, the dome light would flash on/off around corners. The stereo was dim. I removed as much of the melted insulation wires as I could, then de pinned the harnesses so I could reuse the pins, and ran some fresh wires for now because I want to have a virgin stereo harness replacement before I get in there and pull this whole thing out. I had to do the same thing on my EG because the stereo harness had been hacked so many times there wasn't enough slack left to strip back to make connections and extend the wires.

Maybe someone put in a fuse rated too high. People are stupid. The fuse is supposed to go first but I've seen cases where the insulation burned off but the wire and it's fuse remained intact.

Best case scenario, you can replace the wires, pin them into the factory harness and be set to go. Worst case scenario you need a new harness and ECU.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by suspendedHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well for instance on the car I just bought, the previous owner messed up the stereo wiring. Somewhere the dome light wire was grounding out either pinched around a sharp point touching bare metal chassis, or touching another wire with melted insulation, or from the stupid twist wire connections with electric tape. Way up in the dash several bare wires were all touching. The dome light wire melted all the way to the fuse block, yet the dome light still barely worked. With the switch in the center position, the dome light would flash on/off around corners. The stereo was dim. I removed as much of the melted insulation wires as I could, then de pinned the harnesses so I could reuse the pins, and ran some fresh wires for now because I want to have a virgin stereo harness replacement before I get in there and pull this whole thing out. I had to do the same thing on my EG because the stereo harness had been hacked so many times there wasn't enough slack left to strip back to make connections and extend the wires.

Maybe someone put in a fuse rated too high. People are stupid. The fuse is supposed to go first but I've seen cases where the insulation burned off but the wire and it's fuse remained intact.

Best case scenario, you can replace the wires, pin them into the factory harness and be set to go. Worst case scenario you need a new harness and ECU.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well im just gonna take some spare wire with me and try to cut up and replace the burnt wires? i dont know jack about wiring/electronics...are different wires from the ecudifferent thickness' or resistences? does that make sense....how do i find where the short was ...u mentioned that ur short came fromm a dome light wire grounding out...how did u pinpoint the short?

im just scared that if i repair the wires that they are just gonna burn again....all i wanna do is be able to drive this car from the guys house in arleta to my shop in pasadena....how do i know which fuses to check? what are the most common fuses in the car so i can take a few to replace if necessary...which fuses are usually the first to go?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sanimalp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check to see if there are any blown fuses.. because fuses should blow before wires burn.. but not if you have fuse points jumped. do you know where the wiring was burned? either way $1k for the car isnt too bad.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

well its all stock so i doubt that the fuses have been jumped...i dont know what part of the wiring is burnt because i have not even seen the car yet...thats why i wanna know what to look for when i go down there....
but hell yeah a b16 swapped 91 hatch with low miles for 1k..u cant find a better deal...he said that he just got it painted too...it has a mugen kit which i dont really like so thats gonna be one of the first things changed back to oem on the car...

 

bump it

 

anybody...im about to go check this car out in about two hours..i just dont wanna get fucked over

 

You'll know which wires because they'll be the obviously melted/burned up ones. Hopefully there is enough remnant insulation that you can tell which wire goes where (there almost always is). Depin the wire from the harness, pry the pin open with a needle or something, put your new wire in and crimp it. To choose what gauge wire, just match what gauge it was. Most wires will work fine with 16 gauge. The only time you have to worry about resistances etc is for sensors. But even then, you're fine with 16 gauge wire except for the O2 which requires shielded wire. In the back of the Haynes manual it shows you which sensors need shielded wire.

You don't have to know anything about wiring, just how to crimp. If you don't know how to crimp, go down to an old *** electronics supply when it's very slow business and start talking to the old guy. Start buying up some stuff and have him show you how to crimp. Takes like 10 minutes. For some reason those old electrician guys are always cool.

Where in Cali do you live? Close to San Diego? I'd help you out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by suspendedHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

For some reason those old electrician guys are always cool.</TD></TR></TABLE>
yes we are very cool

melted wires are most always caused by overfusing(really bad thing) and ground faults--which could be the result of crappy stereo intalls and/or pinched wires. look for stuff that doesn't look factory for starters.

 

yeah so i already bought the car..it turns out that there used to be a system in there...and the wiring was so horrible...there were exposed wires everywhere...i already have the whole interior stripped down...i have not had a chance to get into the engine bay much yet since i f'ed up my finger pretty bad at work

 

bump 4 u

i want pics i dont want this to happen to my car

 

damn i wish i took pics of the dash harness before i threw it out...**** was so butchered up and had so many exposed wires touching each other...i couldnt believe how bad the wiring job was..
i still havent found any burnt wires yet...im sure ill find outn exactly whats up on monday...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Suck my DX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">exposed wires touching each other</TD></TR></TABLE> = <TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Suck my DX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">burnt wires</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

i know that much...the guy i bought the car from had no idea what he was doing...but like i said i still havent found any burnt wires yet...my finger is feeling better so i think i will be a able to find the problem out tomorrow...i will take pics for u guys...here are pics of the car so far https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1343021

 

take a pic of your finger i have a collection of bad hand injuries pics

 

nice buy.

proper size fuses are in the circuit to clear faults b4 the wires burn...

any luck locating the fault(s) so far? inquiring minds want to know.

 

still no burnt wires found....
i still need a new wiring harness because the old one is chopped to **** and i cant find a good source of how to put it back together....if anyone has a list of which wires go to what plug that would help out a lot...
how can i check for burnt fuses with no wiring harness currently in the car?
im guessing i cant but maybe im wrong...sum1 school me...electronics are not my friend

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sam385 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">look at the fuse blocks for damage--like brown/black spots, flash marks etc.

if you are putting in a new harness, then you'll probably be clearing away some or all of the old problems.

the helm manual has the most extensive info on wiring. it has save me a few headaches too, you know.

wiring and a/c are my main subjects so, i am available thru PM and IM for these areas. </TD></TR></TABLE>

so far i have been learning without a helms manual...where can i pick one up...so far its been all trial and error...if i can find a that manual it will take me so much less time to figure everything out....

also after pulling out my wire harness i realize that it is not the harness in the engine bay that i need but the other part of the harness that plugs into the ecu...this one....

see how its all cut up? i thought that this harness and the wiring harness were all one piece...kinda realized too late that they are two seperate pieces....should i look at the fuse box under the hood or dash??

maybe u can help me with a couple other pics of the engine harness that are a concern as well...

in this pic the plug in my hand is the plug that connects to the head right under the vtec solenoid....what are the other four wires? what do they go to?

these are the wires going to the dizzy...is there suppossed to be a wire spliced into that blue kinda opened up one? im kinda lost as to what im suppossed to do here..

this is for the vtec solenoid and pressure switch...the switch plug is not in the pic but i do have it...i kinda know what goes where but im not 100 % sure...i believe that there was a ground wire connected to the plug when i was taking out the harness that ran into the cabin...now im not sure where the ground goes...not sure if that made sense but any help would be appreciated...

 

http://www.helminc.com for the manual. its over 200 pages.

looks like someone hacked up the climate control and stereo connectors!

if i were doing this project, i would just replace the sub harnesses that are bad rather than attempting to repair these harnesses that you show in the pics...if the wires are this bad on the ends then i'll bet they are bad all the way thru.

why don't people go and buy a honda stereo connector; solder it to the new stereo; plug the stereo in to the factory plug; listen to music???? i'll bet that's how a previous owner f'd this car up so badly he probably tried to do the swap wiring himself too--another harness that should be bought--that's how the dizzy wires got burnt! voila! we have a winner

looking at your orig post again...the ECU maybe burnt toast too. no way he was driving this car -&gt;doesn't seem likely at least.

 

so does that dizzy wire look burnt to you?
will a junkyard have all these harnesses?