Wiring Harness....
 

I may be in a world of S***.... :(... I went to start the SVX tonight and everything went dead... Totally dead.... Checked the battery and it is good. Checked the connections, they are good... Checked the alternator, it is good (only about 7 months old...)...

Called Jason Porter (*Porter* on here) and he thinks that there is a possibility that my wiring harness is shot somehow... After thinking about it, I wouldn't doubt it since the harness was strun all over the ground while we were rebuilding the car in 2004... Then there was that electrical problem that I had back in August 2005 dealing with a shorted ground... I am really believing that it is a wiring harness at the moment... Anyone have a Wiring Harness for an OBD1 car (1992 - 1995)??

If anyone has one in near perfect condition, please contact me with your selling price...

Chris Lindley
cjlindley@gmail.com
(919)741-8832
SVXAutoXerMoFo (AIM)

Thanks very much... The car is sitting in a friend's driveway at the moment, unable to move at all... This is gonna be something that needs to be fixed ASAP... Please, someone get up with me...

Thanks very much :)

PM sent.:cool:

i still have the one on that red car down back

Chris,
Check all your grounds first and the + cable into the fuse box. You might also check your fusible link to see if you didn't somehow blow it...
-Bill
p.s. more details will help (i.e. do you have power to anything?)

Going over to where the SVX is shortly... Just got back from Import Autowerks in north Raleigh... THey did 4 new wheelbearings and new exhaust and an oil change on the Rabbit... HOLY S***!!! It is Sooo QUIET to drive now!!! I actually really like driving the little diesel... Registered it on the way home and am gonna go have it inspected tomorrow...

Alrrght, just got back from where the SVX is... It is still doing the same thing that it was doing last night... Here's what's going on...

I pulled into my friends place to pick him up last night. Shut the car off, go inside and chat for a while... Go to leave... Key in the ignition in the "off" position, and all is normal... I turn the key to the "acc" position and again, all is normal (cd player showes it's recieving power, dash clock also showes the same).... Turn the key to the "on" position and EVERYTHING (lights, cd player, dash clock, door beeping, etc) goes dark... <insert me having a panic attack right now/>... I turn the ignition to the "off" position and take the key out... This is where the strange stuff happens... I look at the light on the door (the door was open) and it is very faint but it is BLINKING... It's blinking at the rate of about 2 blinks a second... I got out, closed the door and the little key light on the drivers side door was doing the same thing... Blinking and very faint... I wasn't sure what was going on, do I got back in the car, and tried again... This time NOTHING... Everything was dead... No cd player, no dash clock, nothing came on no matter what position the key was in....

After all this happened, I took the battery out and took it to Western Auto and had it tested... The machine returned a "Good Battery" reading after only 30 seconds... But I thought that I'd goahead and clean the terminals and connection... So I got a set of lead ( I think they were lead ) caps to put over the terminals along with a set of those green and red thingies that you slide over the terminals and is supposed to keep the corrosion under control... Took the battery back, poped it in the car after putting the caps and green and red thingies on the posts... Opened the doors (door lights came on normally), Key in the ifnition and turned to the "acc" position, cd player worked, clock worked, windows rolled up and down... Key to the "on" position and the dash lights up normally, I could hear the fuel pump doing it's thing... I turn the key to "Start" and hear a "Click" (almost like it is tryung to turn over on a battery that just doens't have much juce at all... "Ok" I figure, I'll have another go.... Key in the "off" position and I immediatly knew that something was up because the door lights were back to being really dim and flashing. I turn the key to "acc"... Nothing.... everything is dead... Turn the key to "on", still nothing.... Everything was still dark and dead...

"Screw it!!" I say... I leave it at my friends place last night... Went over there about an hour ago to check the fuse box under the hood (by the coolant resavior (sp?).... All fuses, as well as the little wire that is "exposed" in the middle of the box are totally fine... visually checked all the grounding points in the engine bay... All looked fine... Went to try and start it and everything that happened after I put the battery in happened the same all over again... door lights looked fine, cd player came on, dash light came on... Turned the key to the "on" position (NOT the "Start" position, the "ON" position) and again, everything goes black and dark...

Any ideas??

#1:check the ground under the front edge of the battery as it tends to get rusty and also check the little ground wire on your tranny dogbone.

#2:Try another battery anyway and see what happens.

Your describing the exact thing that use to happen to mine when the terminals would become corroded, So I believe it to be a connection problem your having somewhere.

Really??? You experienced the "flashing dim door lights" too?? What did you do? buy a new battery and throw it in and all was fine??

I am going back over there tonight after I get rid of some of my anger and relax alittle... Thinking about buying a new battery and taking it over to the car... Trying swapping out batteries.... Gonna get some steel brushes and scrub up all the grounding points.... put it all back together and try it then... If it doesn't work then I will safely beable to say that all the "simple stuff" had been tried and it is time to start thinking alittle "deeper"... :(...

Yep, Mine did everything you are describing. All I did was use a battery cleaner and clean my terminals then all was fine again. It's happened 3 times now, But this last time I put on terminal protector spray, So no problems since then. Good luck and keep us informed.;)

Sure will man... Going to buy an Optima Red Top tonight and try that... I figure I'll get one since I have wanted one for a while now and since there really isn't a battery out there that is better...

I'll definitly post back as soon as I get back tonight... Thanks again for the advice and keeping my hopes aliv3 :)

Don't worry, We'll have it up and running either way soon enough. If you need anything just holler at me.;) Good luck.

If you need a wiring harness, I have a complete set, pulled from a 1992. Let me know. For your sake, I hope its an easy fix.

Chris,

and you can move the Red Top to the trunk in the future for better weight distribution without having to worry about a vented battery box (gee, now why would I know that);)

regarding the ground wire that comes off of the battery to the frame - make sure to actually unbolt it and clean it and the spot on the frame that it bolts down on. You should also get one of those battery terminal tools that has an internal and external wire brush -- the external brush cleans the inside of the wire clamps that go on the battery, the internal brush cleans the battery posts.

You might also want to check the wires going to the starter, as it sure looks like you've got an issue in the starting circuit...

-Bill

Too pissed off and fed up with electrical stuff at the moment to go into detail about tonight... To make a long story short though here is what happened...

Bought an Optima Red Top (freaking $192!!!), tried it and the exact same thing happened as before...

I have a problem with transportation at the moment. My VW doesn't want to start either!!! Been having to push start it... Getting the VW fixed tomorrow (hopefully)... Then hopefully getting the SVX towed back to my apartment sometime this weekend, if not tomorrow... Then I should beable to look all over the place in the thing... I'd almost rather pay someone else to do it though cause my back hurts anytime I bend over now... I'm too young to have a bad back :(... I guess that is what comes of all those years of loading bombs and missiles on F-18's :rolleyes::(

Not if you're gonna race it (gee, now why would I know that? Oh yeah, I read the rules!)