So i got a 1990 civic ex auto tranny a few days ago. Today i was wiring up my subs and had everything grounded and when i went to put the battery ground on everything was sparking. So i pulled it off quickly as possible and the ground cable came undone must have not been tight. So a fire started on the accelerator cable weird. Now it wont crank it just makes a little noise. My starter is good same with main relay and fuses. Please help it is my daily amd i have no idea what went wrong and how to fix it.

 

Need it fixed today someones gotta know. Im checking the battery today and replacing the battery cables and terminals. Also gonna check the ecu for codes. Throw some things out there for me to check please!

 

Maybe it's time to face the reality that you probably shouldn't be working on your own car until you learn some more. At least start doing better research before you attempt projects that are beyond your ability.

here is a great site with lots to read/learn
www.the12volt.com

For starters, I would disconnect any wiring you did yesterday.
As far as the car not cranking, you need to check the
1. battery
2. battery cables
3. fuses in engine bay fuse box (especially the big ones in the plastic box)
4. make sure that when you turn the key, you see 12v+ at the starter solenoid.

 

How the hell did you start a fire? When I did my first radio job the only problem that happened was the rear speakers weren't connected to the new radio.

I would definitely take gringo's advice and read up on some stuff before you start working on your car again and burn it down.

 

The car was sitting for a year and some grounding was screwy clearly. I have never done anything like this before and I've wired 220v in houses so instead of telling me not to wire stuff will you help! Also I removed all the radio and amp wiring already. Update!! there is no power I am thinking it is main relay but that should have went out yesterday when it all happened correct?

 

check the battary fuse under the hood? next would be to make sure u didn't burn the ignition switch. if a fire started due to short or hot grounding, it would blow a fuse. take a mulitimeter or test light. bad fuses are not easy to spot sometimes.

 

I did help. I gave the best advice I could give to someone who just started a fire in their vehicle.

I also know that you probably wouldn't take my advice so I even included instructions on how to troubleshoot and check the fuses etc.....but have you even checked them?

Let me draw you a picture of what fuses to check.

 

Yes I checked them all and one was burnt so I replaced it this morning. It was the one in the pic in the bottom middle of the two circled. I have gone through fuses multiple times I'm just wondering if theres some hiding that I'm missing.

 

Also when I put the key in the ignition the battery lights stays on and it just beeps over and over.

 

You wire 220 in houses, I'm sure you're capable of using a multimeter and finding the short that is present.

 

Was the fire only in the engine compartment? And when you say fire, do you mean full on flames burning **** up, or just wires melting? You should take pics of the visible damaged areas, you probably melted other wires.

 

It was just a small little flame running along the throttle cable which i dont understand. I cant get pics uploaded either not wanting to work. And when i try starting it again it tries to start smoking again

 

It ran a bit into the cabin though so it could have melted some wires up by my daah ill check when i get a chance. And sorry for all the double posts

 

Listen, everyone started somewhere and was a noob at some point. It sounds like you are relatively new to 12v automotive circuits - regardless of your existing knowledge of A/C systems. We have all been there. Troubleshooting electrical problems can be very difficult even with many years of experience.

You jumped to the conclusion that it is the main relay pretty quickly, without proper diagnosis. This is exactly why I said maybe it would be better to go to a pro because it will get expensive replacing parts at random.

Simple check for main relay
When you turn the key to the II position, and the lights on the dash light up, pay close attention to the check engine light. It should come on for a few seconds and while it is illuminated you should hear a quiet hum from the fuel tank. This is the fuel pump priming. Then the check engine light will turn off and you will hear a click in the dash, behind the coin tray. That click is the main relay operating. If you hear the hum and then the click it is most likely not the main relay. If you don't hear the click, it doesn't necessarily mean that the main relay is bad - it could be a number of things like a blown fuse or other problem.

 

The fuel pump is priming and i know the main relay is working cause i have two of them too. When the check engine light goes off a constant beeping accurs and the battery light stays on. I keep checking fuses and there all good

 

Btw i have power now but still no crank. Are there relays or fuses hiding that arent in the fuse box and are not the main relay.

 

this may be a problem further down the road, but is the cable still intact? I remember I had a buddy that was restoring a classic car and the choke cable went between the battery and shorted and started a fire and the choke cable snapped and was utterly useless...so yeah...

Also, did you check for any damage of where the fire was? If you did and I didn't see it, my fault.

 

Ya need to get a new cable it is useless as of now. Since im not finding the solution im getting it towed to an auto shop. Ive tried everything and like gringo said it gets exspensive just replacing parts. Ill let you guys no what happened when i find out prolly tommorrow.

 

TEST ALL FUSES!!!!! UNDER DASH AS WELL AS UNDER HOOD

 

So it ended up being my distributor and a engine ground was toast os what they said.