i was trying to install some extremely small LED's to light up the pedals, i used a 10 gauage automotive hookup to a switch, to the led's, then to a ground, no fuse, i thought i didnt need one b/c i wouldnt be drawing much power, WRONG! i flipped the switch, nothing happened, i come back 15 seconds later and SMOKE is coming out of the passenger side because the wires got so hot!!!! i immediately ripped everything out and tried to start the car, the starter was going fine, but the car wouldnt actually turn over!!! i disconnected the negative and waited, i put it back on, no luck, it looks like maybe some of the surrounding wires got hot and melted maybe, i think that's what it is, how much will this cost to replace? or could it possibly be something else and i could fix it right now?

 

im just gonna take it into the dealer and see what the issue is, does anyone think this will be more than 500 to repair?

 

well if its the dealer there is a distinct possibility it might cost 500 bucks. It really depends on the extent of the damage. If you take it to the dealer they are probably going to end up replacing all the wires instead of just patching it up so that could get costly

 

I don't know, but it sounds pretty bad. At a dealership it will be costly for sure.

 

ill pay to get all the wiring replaced b/c that's the last time i try to mod again! and to think, the first time around, i did an awesome job, but i just dont wanna end up paying more than 500 bucks, i dont think it could get more expensive than that for electrical repairs, i mean, i didnt short and circuits in the car, just burnt a wire or two, plus i need a couple of new trim pieces anyways, and the tires for the feathering b/c nissan has now extended the warranty to 2004's unlimited.

 

How does the rest of your wiring harness look. Hopefully you didn't fry the whole harness. I think you have to replace some of the ignition codes or something like that if your whole harness goes bad because they work with only 1 car.

 

it looks like only the insulation was damaged??! im putting the key in the car, turning it to "ON" and everything looks good, radio comes on, all the dash lights, everything, i get 12 volts on the voltmeter, however the only noticable thing (besides not starting the engine!) is that the fan is on, despite the air conditioner not being on, which means i think the ECU has gone into a limp mode where it thinks things are not working, the harness im looking at is the one under the passenger side kick-panel with the white clip that runs into the grounding bolt on the body, i ran the wire through the grommet behind the battery grounded it on that bolt, meaning that the damage (if any) would be in those wires leading from the battery grommet down, the TCS and SLIP light stay on, the car makes the sound that it wants to start (the starter works) but the car does not turn over to the engine, i inspected the area around the wiring harness that appeared to possibly be damaged and it seems there is no serious damage. This leads me to believe, along with the TCS lights and the fan, that the ECU has had a program malfunction, as when the wires first got hot and caused the damage, the fan came on when the car was not on, which was the most important clue to me, esp since this means there MUST be a diagnostic code, because the ECU MUST have responded to any damage/malfunction by turning the fan on, hopefully this is a lot less serious than i originally though


EDIT : also just noticed the widows arent going back up when opening/closing the door, they are stay down for clearance, but dont go back up, which means that wires somewhere are damaged

 

Well thats where your ECU happens to be located so who knows what you did. Time to go to the dealer.

 

also, if you had to change damaged wires, do all the wires connecting to the powertrain management have to be changed? or are there intermittent hooks and harnesses that keep wire-changing relatively easy?

 

Did you go over the basics check all the fuses in all three fuse boxes. The one inside the car and the two under the hood. To see the IPDM you have to remove some of the trim pieces around the battery. Its possible when you melted the insulation on those wires that you blew a fuse.

 

funny you say that, i looked in all the fuse boxes, and i didnt find anything, but when the techs look in the fuse boxes .... voila! all it was was a busted fuse, i felt so stupid, exactly what blue350Z said, when the insulation went out, so did the fuse