I was trying to fix my check engine light that never worked and discovered this wiring massacre after peeling back some black tape.

I am not sure what is going on here and not sure if this is fixable. Many wires are just chopped but don't know what they were previously connected to as there isn't another end to connect to. Many are spliced to different colored wires.

The whole car is full of this ****, the previous owner just twisted wires together with different colored wires and may take me a life time to find and repair all this. There is another huge ball of black tap under the passenger side carpet leading to the main engine harness that I haven't yet checked to see how bad is either. Possibly another chassis in my future, not sure?

What would you guys do?

I think my options are 1) Try to find another dash harness that hasn't been touched
2) Try and repair this mess
3) Start again and build another harness from scratch

 

Was there a different cluster than the original in the car?

That looks like something I did back when I was 19

I had put a GSR cluster in my CRX. The right way would have been to depin and repin, but I was too young and dumb to realize how easy that was to do.

 

I am not sure if the cluster was stock or not, I really don't know what they were thinking. Is so easy to depin.

I think it's just too much to repair, looks like I am booking a trip to the USA because down here in Mexico there is no way to find a virgin harness.

Let me know if anyone see's any 4th gen's at your local pick n pull. Or I will throw you $100 on top of the harness and shipping, for anyone willing to pull it for me to send to me.

 

id say fix the harness dont just get another
figure out where the wiring goes
take your time with it
if the car has a swap in it
then that explains the wiring mess

but if its working then just clean up the wiring

if its not find out why not
every wiring for the ecu has a place it goes to
that info is on page 4 of my build thread
marcos new work car 90 sedan

check it out
if your willing to put in the work

 

Looks like my local yard just crushed the last 90 Civic they had. I'll keep an eye out though.

 

I feel your pain man. Mine had very similar kinds of wiring artistry. The only way to work through it is..... one wire at a time.

First, fix what was done by repairing these connections using solder and heat shrinks, but don't change anything unless you can easily tell that wires are going to nothing, then remove them. Cap off any open-ended wires. THEN begin to trace and figure out where the functioning wires are going.

 

Yeah I am going to take another look now but as mentioned I feel like there is just too many shitty connections and a whole heap of shorts that I would be chasing these issues for a while.

I saw on ebay a 91 CRX Dash Harness anyone know if these fit, the connections look very close.?

 

Yeah, I guess a new harness would be a nice fresh starting point.

The CRX and Civic harnesses are slightly different part numbers, but it looks like new ones may still be available.....

Harness

 

That harness you linked is for the auto, will still work with a 5 speed?

 

Ah sh*t. Yeah I looked up the manual one and it is slightly different, and discontinued. Just our luck!

Would be interesting to compare the schematics from 32117-SH3-A30 to 32117-SH3-A01 and see what the differences are though. Probably wouldn't take much to modify one to work.

 

If you’re already looking to replace the harness, if you pull the old one out now, it might be easier to repair at that point.

 

How did this car not catch fire or blow fuses 24/7!? Was that a jacked up alarm install gone wrong? Can you still punch the previous owner in the face?

I think the CRX dash harness is different since they had actuators for the A/C controls. It's honestly not too hard to take out. You basically just remove the dash and it's all there. And I agree with Caoboy, I'd honestly go that route at this point if it were me.

 

Yeah not sure how it hasn't caught fire yet.

The cluster was from a 90 -91 with tach and was in MPH, but couldn't say if that was the original that came with the car or not. My guess is not.
And I am sure it will get worse the more black tape I undo but your right about pulling it out.

I was going to pull the dash anyway to relocate some gauges so guess it is that time now. I will start to get the harness out and see if it easier to work on a bench rather then in the car.

 

So small update, what I decided is, to start with what I know is working, and make that a solid connection. It's kinda tearing me up inside as I like to do things the right way and having mis matched colored wires is eating at my OCD. Anyway for now I will just label everything.

It was super hot today though so didn't get too much done. Maybe will take a few more days to sort all this but now seems doable. Thanks for the help as well peeps.

Does anyone have a photo or wiring diagram for this dash connector, for the life of me cannot work out what this yellow/white wire is for or where it goes? This is the connector that plugs into the under dash fuse box, I believe all wires are supposed to be for the gauge cluster ?

 

Is this the car in your sig? and MPFI? I have a 90 HB Si I might replace the ICU on and could snap a pic while i'm under there if I get to it soon. Otherwise got nothing

 

Yeah 1991 Civic DX hatch converted to obd1

 

Alright man I'll take a look if I get around to it. No guarantees I might be moving soon though so don't hold your breath for me

 

Doing some homework I found that plug is C405 Connector. Still not 100% sure but I think the yel/wht is the Fuel Gauge. My fuel gauge is working connected to another wire so must of been some of the previous owner's handywork again. For now I won't worry about it and get the rest working.

I nearly have it back working again, and now have my check engine light. It's a solid cell at the moment and when I turn my lights on it goes away so will have to find this short first. This car is the car that keeps on giving, headaches that is. But again will wait until I have completely finished to see if the short still exists.

At the same time I am re doing the connection to the dizzy as the wiring again was just completely f'd. I ran out of heatshrink so will pick some up tomorrow and should be able to finish it all. Will post up pics when done.

 

I finally sorted it all out. Wasn't as hard as first thought but I am still not stoked about having cut wires behind the dash. I didn't take any photos of the cover up but here is the finished product.



Doesn't show it here but the hatch open light does also work. Also this being the EU cluster is has a hazard light which USA/Candian models don't use as the both indicators flash to indicate the hazards are on. The other is the low fuel light which there is no sensor for in USA/Canadian.

BUT I still have a few issues.

1. Went from no CEL to Solid CEL
2. When I turn on the headlights the Check Engine and Battery Warning light disappear?
3. I know I still have an alternator charging system issue even after replacing the Alt and pulling some un-required fuses, could this be the reason for the solid CEL?
4. Can you get a solid CEL for a charging issue?
5. I wonder if since I turn the headlights on, would the alternator be pumping more volts in and so the battery warning and CEL then shut off?

Regarding numero 1, I have a chipped P28 ECU so could be a million things. I have heard bad burn, didn't turn off enough **** when programming, programmed with wrong checksum the list goes on and on.
However I disconnected the J1 jumper which as far as I know should put the ecu back to stock? I connected back the ECU and still solid CEL?
I also refreshed the solder on the ECU where the chips connects as I have heard cracked solder can also cause a solid CEL, but no DICE.