Serious Electrical help

[02bugeye]

So a buddy was helping me install guages into my car.

long story short.... a ground wire touched something behind the radio, and since then, none of the following work.

- Door lock from keys
- Alarm system
- Dome Lights
- Radio
- clock pod


all of these are controlled by the #8 fuse in the fuse block.

Yet i have checked and replaced the fuse (even tho not blown) and yet i still have no power to any of these things.

Today i tried hooking up a friends radio who has the same car, (Bugeye WRX)
and still no power.

I was told to check the IOD fuse, but yet that isnt the cause of any problems...


Can anyone help me?

[Bu11dogg2]

you could have shorted at the harness

you'll have to retrace all the wires and double check all of the fuses

[Gearhead Geek]

Might be a dumb question, but did you make sure the fuse you put in was good and/or try another one just incase?

[02bugeye]

you could have shorted at the harness

you'll have to retrace all the wires and double check all of the fuses

ughh.
Now if its shorted at the harness... then how do i fix it?
i dont know anything really about electrical

Might be a dumb question, but did you make sure the fuse you put in was good and/or try another one just incase?

No worries, not a dumb question. I checked fuse #8 and it wasnt blown. But i still changed it out with a new one.

[Bu11dogg2]

either rewire the harness or buy a new one.

I suggest you get someone with experience to help you.

[-=Lobstah=-]

fuse block in the cab or under the hood?
check the Illumination fuse in the engine bay, theres a 15A fuse that controls clock and int. lighing. We had the same thig happen last week.

[02bugeye]

thanks guys ill check now before i head out. ill let you guys know later tonight.

[shtbxr22]

update?

[SicRedGt]

Well, a ground wire grounded will not blow a fuse. Did you do a battery disconnect to try and reset it?

Always disconnect the batt when doing electrical installs. THere is smoke in the wires that if you let it out it won't work anymore.:lol:

[-III]

I've done a lot of shorting out with speaker/radio installs and nothing like this has happened.

My suggesting would be to double check ALL the wiring from the gauges you installed and see if one of those is backwards, or shorting something out. Also see if they are pinched anywhere and if the wire may be stripped and touching metal to short. If your not blowing fuses, I doubt there's a large enough electrical short.

[Robk0000]

i am not 100% sure on this but, it sounds like you shorted out the alarm module. I believe all of the above is somehow connected to this module, if it were to go bad... i think all the above would not function. (this is how GM vehicles operate, not sure if subaru is the same)

The module is located around the steering/radio area. Check if you have power at this. If you dont, then check the fuse box. And if the fuse is good and you have no power. Then trace the wires back, somehting has to be unplugged or cut somewhere out of sight. Also, look at the wiring chematic, it will identify where the problems may exist.

[axis]

Subaru is smart and doesn't have the alarm and other functions running through the radio. Idk what GM was thinking by having theirs set up this way but that's why if you have a GM and want to swap out the radio you need an extra $100 harness so you don't lose that functionality.

As far as the short goes, I'd say unless you smelled smoke you probably just blew a fuse somewhere. Use a meter and test both sides of each fuse under the dash and under the hood. I'm sure the problem is a quick easy fix.

[Bu11dogg2]

any luck?

[OMG.EVO]

It would be wise to check some other fuses besides the most obvious one. Especially if you don't have mountains of experience with electrical, strange things can happen. Now, I'm no Subaru expert (I don't even own one) but I'd grab a FSM and check most any fuse that is even remotely related with a meter, and also check the fuse socket with the meter to see if it gets 12V. See if there are any series-circuits that could be impacted or if there is a relay in the circuit that needs to be tested (wouldn't assume so)

As for that GM thing, man that does suck. My buddy had a GM truck and did this, he was crying about it!!!