whole lotta electrical problems

okay, here's the deal. My cd players and clock pod kick out randomely now and then, prob 6 times in the last 2 months, usually for about 10-60 min. the last time they kicked out they went out for a couple days. also, when its kicked out, my power windows and power locks wont work when the car is off, only when the engine is still running. I think something's wrong with my relay or something. Yes I checked all my fuses. My other problem is that I installed some led's in my dash and I had to take apart most of my dash to do it. when I put it back together I realized that my gas gauge wasn't working, so I reseated the connections to my gauges and it still didn't work. then that night a realized that my center dash lights were only half working. the heat control and half the numbers on the fan speed are out... clock pod still works. then I find out that my driving lights are out on my driver's side too. my headlights run, but the fog light and tail light wont. turn signals still work. again, all the fuses were checked. and just in case any of you are wondering... I ran a wire straight off the battery, to a switch, to the led's, then grounded to the frame with a resistors. the only thing I did that was stupid is when I cleaned the posts when hooking up the power wire, my bro had the acc on and the battery arced a few times. any ideas would be much appreciated, thanx

either your batterys going, or you fried somthing.

I'm pretty sure my battery is pretty shot and its gonna be replaced pretty quick here.. whoever had the car before me ran the battery totally dry. but I don't think a cooked battery explains why my lights arn't working... have any ideas of where I can start looking for what I fried? start testing my lights and just track back till I'm not getting anything?

well change your batery 1st cause tyrin to start your car on a dieing it will kill your starter (i would know i just replaced mine last month)

thanx for the heads up.. I had no clue, I figured mayeb I could get a few more months outta it before I have to throw more money at it. I'll grab a new battery tomorow and repost if anything changes.

alright, well I've installed a new optima battery and new posts just for the hell of it. I can't say for sure if that's fixed my problem with the cd player or not... but fingers crossed. the driving lights and interior lights are still the same as previously stated, but I can add that the horn doesn't work either. Once again, I checked all the fuses. so I pulled out the tester and tested for power at the fuse boxes and at the lights.... no power at the lights but power at the fuse boxes. and with that I'm out of ideas. anybody have any ideas of what might be going on?:banghead:

sounds like you might have a ground missing somewhere and thats frying your components/fuses/wireing.

so by the sounds of things... this isn't an easy fix. well maybe I'll sick my bro onto the problem, see if he can help. I hear those electrical engineers know a few things about electronics :wink:. And I guess if I can't find anything after that... I'm off to a shop to get it fixed. F*cking more money down the drain.

so it took the electricians about an hour to fnid the problem. turns out that the guys who installed my compustar starter/alarm system did a shitty job and some wires disconnected and that's what caused the left side of my car to stop working. cost me 82$ to get it fixed, I did have a couple bulbs burnt out but basically it was the starter/alarm that fucked it all up. so I'm gonna see if Andre's Audiotronics is gonna cover this under their warranty, seeing as it was their shotty workmanship that caused me all this greif. so if anybody else is having problems like this.. check your alarm and shit. hope this helped somebody.

so it took the electricians about an hour to fnid the problem. turns out that the guys who installed my compustar starter/alarm system did a shitty job and some wires disconnected and that's what caused the left side of my car to stop working. cost me 82$ to get it fixed, I did have a couple bulbs burnt out but basically it was the starter/alarm that fucked it all up. so I'm gonna see if Andre's Audiotronics is gonna cover this under their warranty, seeing as it was their shotty workmanship that caused me all this greif. so if anybody else is having problems like this.. check your alarm and shit. hope this helped somebody.

thats what i thought it was, jk i had no idea

thats awesome you got it fixed for cheap!!! i've decided to stay out of the electrical problems arenas cuz i kno next to nothing other than check your battery alternator, and then recent wires you did.

last electrical problem on my friend's car cost 500$ to rewire everything, i think you got off lucky ;)

Dude, if they dont cover that then thats messed up big time. File a lawsuit....i bet you would win. Screw them for everything they are worth!!! (ive been waiting for a time i can file a worthless lawsuit and make lots of money...this sounds like the perfect time, lol)

I'm heading back to the shop that did the install tomorow to make them pay for the work I had done. cuz they offer a warranty on all their work... I'm sure the fact I was rummaging around in my dash had something to do with those wires coming undone... but lets face it, they shouldn't be just crimping shit together, they should be soldering it all. but they don't need to know my dash work had anything to do with it. lol. but ya, thanx for the help guys, I'm glad I found this site, a lot of your guy's forums have helped me out already. peace

FYI the majoity of shops crimp due to the fact that a. sodering takes a long ass time to do. And b. Less risk of burning the intiror of your car.

i did my own wiring for my underglow, and trust me, crimping is easier and it can be much more beneficial if you need to re-do faulty wiring ;)

they were just careless crimping that is all , what kind of alarm did you get anyway? i need to invest in one as well as remote start

Have fun trying to talk a shop into installing a remote start on your car. You will have to do it yourself because your car is a stick, and they wont take the liability of you accidentaly leaving your car in gear, and having your car go through your house...lol. From what I hear they arent that hard to install though. Yeah, for sure I need a security system because my stereo is worth about as much as my car.

Have fun trying to talk a shop into installing a remote start on your car. You will have to do it yourself because your car is a stick, and they wont take the liability of you accidentaly leaving your car in gear, and having your car go through your house...lol. From what I hear they arent that hard to install though. Yeah, for sure I need a security system because my stereo is worth about as much as my car.

oh snap!! good call

no i rarely leave it in gear, hell i hardly have to use the e-brake w/ everything so flat here. but good call nonetheless, i guess i'll have to get good at wiring!

To be honest with you when you get a remote starter for a 5 speed there is a new by-pass swith for an extra 50 bucks or so that controls the starting. If your car is in gear it won't start...That easy....But yes, you can get a remote starter for your stick...I am..

y the hell do you need remote startup anyway?

y the hell do you need remote startup anyway?

cold missouri winters... there's nothing like that in hawaii is there?

when the car is cold it def. feels different and even finicky w/ shifting and stuff, i took it out once when it was below 10 F and it was like :banghead:

you don't need it though, i'm just a lazy bum



OH YEAH, another thing is the start up button. like you can put your keys in and then you can use a button to start your car, like an s2k or many other finer sports cars

super sweet, but i have no idea what to do about a button

so basicly u just want it so your cars warmed up b4 you get in it.

Not just for our preference of driving a warm car (i hate being cold in my car), but the car would rather be warm (it's not good to have thick oil coursing through your engine). I always leave my car in gear because my driveway is hella steep, and Im paranoid that with just the ebrake it will fall down. Nebraska winters suck 2, last winter it got down to like -20F, my car did NOT want to start, and when I started driving the clutch was so cold that there was no slipping it, it was either in or out. I looked like i had never driven a stick in my life...the car was jurking all over the place, i felt so retarded. But I do love that extra power you get when its real cold out because the air is so dense...especially when the murcury is real low (low density altitude). But yeah, Im gonna get one and just put it in myself...that stupid clutch switch is soo easy to unhook. From what I hear it only takes like 2 hours to put in, its as easy as putting in a turbo timer (if that's easy).

thats what i ment by warmed up.

when it is cold outside in general my car hates it, runs differently, clutch won't grab, and the tires are summer high performance ones, so it just basically sux

i kno what you mean about steep driveways though, my gf's sister has one that makes me paranoid to park on... it literally looks like they built the ground up just to make it a 2 level house w/ a basement

ya, I have a compustar 2w8000fmr(3000). My car is a 5speed.. you can still install em. the one thing about it is that the way it does it to make sure that you're not in gear. U hafta put your car in neutral and put the e-brake up and then take your key out. the car keeps running and then when u close your door, it arms and locks your car. but if u hafta open up your car and get something out after doing that, then u can't remote start it without turning your car back on and doing the neutral and e-brake thing again... something about you might bump it in gear or something, its kinda gay. but the thing gets huge range on it... like easy half a mile. its insane. But ya, I love it... canadian winters are harsh.. like the other day it was fricken -32. but the thing cost me 741 can with install. well worth the money I think though, the 2 way paging system makes me feel way better about leaving my car.