Ok so a friend and I get this crazy idea to install some neons under my front dash. We get it all set up with a lighted switch and everything. Get it all set up and it looks great,..except we notice this small wire we were using to power the switch was getting rather hot. I moved my car and as we were cleaning his garage I started playing with my cool new lights. I was smelling something funny and then all of a sudden smoke started pouring out from under my steering wheel. I got pretty freaked out so I cut the power and moved away from my vehicle. When the smoke cleared we saw that the thin wire we were using to power the switch was burnt up completely.

We figure we were just using to small gauge of a wire so we took it out and re-worked it with thicker gauge wire. SMOKE right away. We knew something was wrong so we checked all the fuses in the panel next to the wheel. They were all fine. By this time I had lost power to my sunroof, windows, and a slew of other things. I was checking my Haynes manual and it said to check the 2 fuseable links in the engine compartment on the right side (if you are looking at the engine from in front of the car). Sure enough, both were blown.

Now my car is sitting in my friend's garage and we are getting up early to go get these fuses. I hope that these are the problem and it's not some other electric short. This couldnt have happened on a worse night, the night before MAXUS.

 

SuX...sorry to hear it good luck..

 

dude that must sucki hope u don't burn anything on ur next project

 

Group buy on fire extinguishers? lol

I just bought one the other day.. you never what can happen.

 

Yeah it was funny, right when we were finishing the install, I said something to the effect of "why do people have fire extinguishers in their cars...."

Anyway this morning around 8am I went to basically every auto parts store in Northern Virginia but I was unable to find 75A and 65A Fusable links. Trak Auto was completely useless as usual and most of the mom and pop stores told me to go to the dealer. I went to a dealer in Arlington and they had only the 75A fuse. I bought two and decided I would just try to get a 65A later.

Came back to my friends garage, popped them in, and ..nothing. I called AAA and sent my friends to MAXUS without me....MAJOR bummer. While I was waiting I decided to crack into my Haynes manual and do some more experimenting. I used a voltmeter to figure out that I was getting power to my engine fuse block which meant there was no short. Looked some more and found that my buddy had put the fuse that was supposed to go to the Ignition switch in a empty slot for my ABS. I switched that and I had power.

I double checked my in car fuses and sure enough my power mirror fuse was in backwards. I cancelled the tow trunk, closed my hood and booked to MAXUS and had a great time.

The moral of this story: DONT do mods late at night, especially when you arent sure of what you are doing.

 

glad it all worked out , since i know u have a haynes , can u do me a favor and look to see what color the ABS wire is before the solenoid? if not its alright , but any help is appreciated
maxse98

 

wow... great story, thats how it should end, everything works out and u still got to maxus..

""The moral of this story: DONT do mods late at night, especially when you arent sure of what you are doing.""

dont forget to always check after yo buddy, i know from experience too!

 

The book is open on my lap but Im having trouble locating and wiring diagrams involving the ABS - There is a diagram of the engine wiring system including the box with the fusable links and the abs fuses, but it seems as if the ABS has been omitted from the diagram. Maybe Im just missing it - Ill keep looking.

 

thanks dude if u cant find it dont worry about it ill find away around it
maxse98

 

I was unaware that fuses have a polarity.

 

Neither did I, when I was examining the in-car fuse panel I saw that some of the fuses looked as if they were upside down or the fuse rating number was upside down. I thought that since this was normal it had no bearing on if my power mirror fuse was incorrectly seated. Since I had nothing to lose I popped it out and flipped it over, after that, I had power to my power mirrors.

 

I believe Y2KevSE has neon lights in his Maxima. I know you are working on a 4th gen and he has a 5th gen, but I would suggest you contact him for some advice on how he did his wiring. Honestly if you are pulling enough current to blow the relays, something is wrong and I would not simply install new relays and try again until I figured out what caused the problem in the first place.

 

Thanks Eric, I just wrote him.

Really the most troublesome thing to me was that Im still not sure what caused the fire. I know what blew and I know what I needed to make it work again but still I dont know what caused it.

At least the car's electrical system did what it was supposed to do to prevent a larger fire.