Apparently the previous owner of my 1990 Honda Accord had already replaced the ignition switch, which just recently kicked the bucket. When I went to remove the switch the screws were finger tight (loose!). The connector was black/burnt inside.

After I took a look I found that the switch's wiring had been spliced off in a few different directions.

My current ignition switch wiring looks like this:



The main splicing goes to this connector (upper right, sorry bad photo the plug is partly cut off in the image)


Here's what it looks like at the connector:


There is also this single wire spliced into it which goes behind my stereo:


The new ignition switch replacement looks like this:


What the hell is all this? What should I do?

 

Ok so I'm pretty sure this is the alarm system. Can someone tell from this photo?



I bypassed everything and plugged in the new switch and it starts up perfectly. I will be putting red locktite on the screws so it doesn't bounce around like it was before.

 

Those are definitely aftermarket 'vampire' taps. Given the location I'd put money on it being an alarm install with remote start. But nothing you've pictured looks like the alarm 'brains' just more taps into various components (dome light, ignition, etc)

 

Butt-splices may have been due to a previous theft/theft attempt and then the alarm was installed.