[SIZE="3"]I have a 2001 Civic Ex Sedan. There are five main problems: power door locks do not work; power windows do not work and none of the four are getting voltage at the fuse box; turn signal switch doesn't work, nor do they light up on the dash; wiper switch only works on medium and high, and does not squirt out any fluid; cruise control doesn't work. Also, inside the fuse block under the dash, some wires in the block have voltage when they shouldn't and others don't have voltage when they should. There is also a relay under the passenger's side dash making a clicking sound when you hit the door lock/unlock button, or manually push down the driver's side door lock (when it works it is a safety feature, when it is manually pressed down, it locks all the doors in the car).

I had a Compustar 5000 series remote start and alarm installed by an authorized compustar dealer. The next day, I went to adjust the shock sensor to a higher level, and on the following day (2 days after the alarm was installed), some problems started happening...

(I do not believe these problems have anything to do with the compustar install, and the only reason for listing the install is I'm trying to detail out exactly what happened and what aftermarket electronics I have on my car. The technician who did the install has not only been doing car electrical for 20 years, but is also extremely competent, has gone above and beyond what anyone in his position should be expected to, and has been a great friend through all of this. More likely than not, it is pure coincidence that these problems began soon after the install.)

I first noticed my remote wasn't unlocking my door locks, then I realized the power locks in the car weren't working as well; the door lock fuse wasn't blown. Gradually over the next month other things malfunctioned. It started off with my turn signals and parking lights after the door locks. The driver's side parking light would come on when I'd hit the arm/disarm button, but not the passenger side. Then when the headlights were on, the passenger's side parking light would come on, but not the driver's side.

If I pushed down the manual door lock (the rectangle manual push/push lock by the window) on the driver's side then my turn signals would stop working, my cruise control would go out, none of my four power windows would roll up or down, my wipers wouldn't work on delay, nor would they squirt out washer fluid. In order to get them working again, I'd have to turn the car completely off, remove the key completely from the ignition, and wait 10 seconds and turn it back on again (if I didn't remove the key, majority of the time, even if the car was left off for 10 seconds, none of the stuff would work).

There was also a freak problem that happened with the PDX 4.150. It may have nothing to do with anything, but I figured I'd mention it nonetheless. I had unhooked the main 0 gauge power from the distribution block to move the amps. When I went to hook up the 0 gauge power to the distribution block, it sparked bright blue, as usual; however the PDX 4.150 started pouring out smoke. I immediately removed the 0 gauge power from the distribution block and left it out, until I had removed the 4.150 from my car. None of the fuses on the amp had been blown, and has since been replaced by Alpine as defective under warranty. After removing the 4.150, I hooked the 0 gauge power back up to the distribution block, it sparked again as usual, and the other amps worked fine. Alpine had no clue what could have went wrong with the amp.[/SIZE]

 

I sent you a text.

 

Sure sounds like a grounding issue.
When "unrelated" circuits interfere with each other, [door locks/signal lights/cruse control] it is almost always a grounding problem.

If it was just some things not working at all or intermittently it is most likely a power issue but could still be a grounding issue, but when circuits interfere with each other it's probably a grounding issue.

You said you had the "0 gauge" disconnected from the distribution box, was that to check the electrical without the cap and amps in the circuit?
I would have suggested it, but I assume it made no difference, correct?

Have you also swapped out the batt. and disconnected the alt. from the batt. to elliminate a short in either one of them as the issue?

I would be surprized if the alarm install had anything to do with your problem, unless it's grounding point is common with dash harness grounds, and if there is a problem with the alarm, you did not say if there was a problem with the alarm/remote start, do you?

I would like to know where the installer grounded the Compustar grounds.

I would assume with 20 years experience that the first thing the installer checked was that all and any dash harness grounds that he may have undone to do the install are reconnected and have good continuity to ground.

All it would take is screwing in a nut or bolt finger tight and then forgetting to tighten it, it happens to the best of us.

If a customer came back after an install with symptoms like yours, the first thing I would check for is if I forgot to tighten a grounding nut or bolt.

I would even recheck anything I had taken apart to make sure I had not interrupted a ground path because a nut or bolt holding sub dash together was not tight.

Maybe that dash harness plug that I had to unplug and move to get around, did not get plugged in properly and it has one or more grounds in it.

Without knowing what the installer has checked for, all I can do is suggest what I would do myself, when the symptems point to a grounding issue. 94

 

check for any loose fuse in the fuse boxes.push the fuses all the way in.
Thank you

 

Sounds to me like a bad battery or you have a bad electrical connection. I would re-check your connections at the battery then work your way down. A volt meter is not always useful here because some problems like a bad connection will only reveal themselves with a significant load. Now check the cable going from the battery to the under hood fuse box. Don't just look at it take a screw driver and ensure its connected securely by adjusting the screws that hold it down. Do the same thing for the wire going from the under hood fuse box to the under dash fuse box.

Then repeat the process for the grounds.

If he has a current probe for his meter you can have him measure current while you switch devices on. This will help indicate which lines (under the hood) are able to send current through them. The line that has a very small amount of current, or current then a large drop has a bad connection.

 

when i was working on my wire tuck the first time (butt connectors ftl) i some how bumped the heater controll when i turned on my ignition to test the turn signal. i hadn't hooked up the ground yet, and when i got out to look at my blinker i noticed all my lights were on very dim on the passenger side, and all were flashing dimmer when the blinker would flash. idk how it did it, but the by having the blower motor on w/o a proper ground, it was drawing a ground through all my running lights on the passenger side.

if i were in your situation, i would start with taking EVERYTHING that is not stock out of the car, even speaker wiring. tear it all out, get down back to oem Honda basics. if that doesn't help, you may have to go as far as to pull the body harness out to figure out what may be wrong. but either way you have to eliminate all possible variables.

sucks, i know, but it's the only way to really figure out what is wrong. at least, that's how i see it.

 

Nothing magical about electricity and it not possible to pull a ground when you dont have a ground hooked up. What's more then likely happened is the ground you disconnected is shared among other circuits in your car. you only need current to flow to get something to turn on so if you go from 12V to 5V corrent will flow. And what happened in your case is the current followed the next least resistave path. A good way to burn out circuits that weren't intended to be loaded.