I screwed something up... :(

[Butlerg]

Slightly long story, so bear with me. I would really appreciate the help.


So a couple days ago my Viper alarm randomly stopped working. I did not do the install on the angel eyes or the alarm. Was the previous owner. I'm not that skilled. ha

I took the underside of the dash off (under the steering wheel) and played with the alarm wires a little. Pushing them back into the "brain" and little stuff like that. I found a stiff (copper?) wire wrapped in red that led into the fuse box. But it was stripped of the plastic in the fuse box, but no plugged into anything. Thinking it might fix something, I stuck it into the slot where my angel eyes were hooked up to. All of a sudden my alarm starts working again!

Excited, I jumped into the car to find it smoking like crazy with the smell of burnt wires. Same goes for the fuse box in the engine bay from the angel eye and alarm wires that I put together. I immediately pulled them apart, and the alarm and angel eyes still worked...


But I could not find where it was burning the wires inside the car under the dash...BUT, everything worked as it should afterwords.


But tonight, (twice already) my lights have automatically turned themselves on after I arrived home!
The first time, it was the angel eyes and foglights only (wtf?)
The second time, it was the angel eyes, low beams, and foglights.
This was after I watched and made sure they went out.


Is there a wire or fuse, I should check? Especially under the dash? But I cannot see what wires are under there. Are there headlight wires there? But the angel eyes turned themselves on too...I cannot imagine for the life of me what is wrong. I can take pictures of all the wires and everything if need be. I'm desperate Right now, I have the battery disconnected just so I can sleep ok. ha


HELP!!!!

Thank you.

 

[oaklandopen]

what would work best is a wiring diagram...and i know that alldata doesn't have one yet for any year mazdaspeed3 (i don't know how differnt it is from NA 3s). the diagram will show you what each wire does, and those that weren't part of the original car. sounds like you have a short somewhere and if there isn't a blown fuse now, there could be one very soon. almost sounds like there's a short to power somewhere

 

[Butlerg]

Thanks...I'm pretty much electrically illiterate, but I'm trying. ha Well basically. I took off the steering wheel cover thing, and this is what I found. Bare melted wire leading to the light switches that I believe controlled the lights on and off. Also bare and melted was the stiff alarm wire...Man, sometimes I just want to punch myself repeatedly...

I don't have the proper tools and stuff, so I just wrapped them in electric tape. But now my dad tells me that he heard that was dangerous...What do I do to properly fix my retardation outcome...

 

[Rotus8]

I'm sorry, you need a professional. You have some seriously overcooked wires that will need to be replaced. You need someone with a wiring diagram, a good set of tools, a supply of correctly sized wires, and some knowlege to put it all together. If not done properly, you will have gremlins for the rest of your ownership of the car. However, that may be short if it catches on fire.

 

[dominoy2k1]

just take off the alarm.

 

[Butlerg]

fkkkkk Gawd I know how to blow it... Would an audio/stereo shop know how to do this? What would taking out the alarm do?

 

[ForceFed]

Wow..Never seen this thread title before.

 

[oaklandopen]

it's not that electrical tape is bad, it's just that in your situation it would probably melt just like the original sheath. and since you have neither the proper tools nor a basic knowlege of electricity (so im guessing) a professional shop would be the place to go.

 

[Super Unique]

Definitely seek out professional help at this point. It's not worth that terrible pit in your stomach as you stand along the side of the highway watching your car burn to the ground.....

 

[Johnny Gruven]

yo So so so sad!! WTF!! all good inquiry's and suggestions I would suggest the dealer or a good Mazda Shop but finding a shop on Island might be tuff!! I know a good Mechanic!! Will's Automotive Kakaako behind the BMW dealer on Kapiolani he is a volvo guy mainly but has been known to do wonders with my VW jetta and MP5!! He is Honest and And an all around good guy!! I would suggest using tape or shrink tubing till you get it to a shop to prevent further shorting out, which is why your lights and such keep turning themselves on!!! Lotsa luck Bro!! make peace with the Menehune!!!
Johnny

 

[Butlerg]

Thanks everyone ^^. Yea. They just turned themselves on again here at work....I thought the electric tape would stop that...Fkk...

 

[laz]

Wow sucks man! Now my guess is that by powering on the bare cable you fried the OEM cabling. That sucks because it is the car's wire harness, and not the alarm's cabling. I have never seen anything like that ever happen before, and I used to install alarms back in the day.

If you can't replace the wire harness, then the best thing will be to shrinkwrap all the cable or replace them from the harness. Costly and time consuming.

You need to take off your alarm, and start fresh.

GL

X

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

Never, ever, ever, let the smoke out of the wires.

Damn! That sucks, man. It's like I keep telling my stepson, if you don't know what it does, ask someone before you screw with it. Of course, you know that now.

 

[zilch321]

Certainly everyone's advice here is good. You need to find a professional. They need to do two things, replace/remove the alarm system and do some wire tracing and ensure that your issue and damage is confined only to your alarm system. Notice I didnt say fix your existing alarm. While others may disagree I personally wouldnt leave equipment that went threw this type of punishment in my car.

Personally I've never seen what "looks' like exposed grounding wire in a car. Based on your original description I'm guessing that your alarm shorted and burned the insulation off the wire you found detached and insulation free.

From the looks of things I assume you're missing at least one fuse to allow the system to heat the wire to the point of combustion. This looks like things could have been much worse.

Good luck to you, report back on the outcome.

 

[Super Unique]

see all those now bare copper wires? They were glowing like toaster elements to burn the insulation like that. This indicates direct short between your alarm power and the stock harness. Why wasn't the alarm power from the battery protected with a fuse.

This is car electrical addon 101. Whenever pulling power directly from battery, ALWAYS install an inline fuse as close to the battery as possible. Equip this with the SMALLEST amperage fuse that will safely operate your add on equipment.

 

[Butlerg]

Wow. Talk about a major fail on my part (and maybe the alarm installers^). hah...Headed to the dealer's Monday expecting a big ass bill. *punch self repeatedly* ha

I noticed if I flip the foglights on with the low beams off, everything except the highs will come on. And if I turn the lows on without the fog switch in the on position, the fogs will still come on...

 

[Super Unique]

I feel your pain, that's gonna be a whopper bill. You may want to seek out a local automotive electric shop to get a 2nd estimate.

 

[TheMAN]

blame the dumbass who installed all this ghetto mickey mouse s*** and ****** up the whole car

get rid of all this bulls*** and bring it back to stock! no alarm, no mad tyte angel eyes!

 

[Texaco]

see all those now bare copper wires? They were glowing like toaster elements to burn the insulation like that. This indicates direct short between your alarm power and the stock harness. Why wasn't the alarm power from the battery protected with a fuse.

This is car electrical addon 101. Whenever pulling power directly from battery, ALWAYS install an inline fuse as close to the battery as possible. Equip this with the SMALLEST amperage fuse that will safely operate your add on equipment.

They probably had an in line fuse, but it kept blowing so they bypassed it...(boom06)

 

[speed1585]

how about you take out the alarm, and any and all non stock wiring or fuses, go to the dealer and say IDK WTF happened?? see if that works then never just plug something back in cause you think thats where it goes lol... once you get it fixed just have an alarm installed by a pro