Need some electrical help

[87ttopstang]

I took out an old alpine alarm system that was in my car when I bought it 12 years ago. There was a relay wired to my parking lights. I removed the alarm, the wiring and the relays. Now when I turn on my parking lights, the fuse blows. I cannot figure it out. I also have no tailights at all. My headlights work however.

There was actually two relays. One was wired to a redwire with blue stripes in the drivers side kick panel.(No idea what it is..I'd appreciate some insight if someone does) The wire was cut in two, and each side of the wire was connected to separate red wires that came from the relay. I have removed the relay and re-attached the original red wire with blue stripe together.

The other relay was connected to a brown wire in the drivers side kick panel via a blue wire from the relay.

I have no idea why the fuse is blowing. As soon as I turn on the light switch....POW...fuse blows. It is fuse number 4 by the way.

If there are any electrical minded people out there...I sure would appreciate some assistance.

 

[HISSIN50]

The OEM brown wire under the dash sounds like the parking light wire. For an alarm, one simply tee's into this wire for parking light flash (to give you an idea of the methodology of the connection).

Though the colors sound off (lock wires are pink with assorted tracers IIRC), it sounds like you are describing the lock wires for the cut wire that you reconnected. The lock wire connectors are at the top of the driver kick panel - they are some pretty good sized OEM wires.

For a non-factory- keyless set-up, one has to cut the lock and unlock wire and run each wire through a couple SPDT relays (or 451M, etc). Simply unconnecting the common and NC terminals and putting them back to stock works fine (like you did).

For the parking lights, me thinks perhaps a wire was cut that went to the tailights. Now the tails get no current, and the end of the cut wire closest to the front of the car is shorting to ground and causing the fuse to blow. Note that this is purely conjecture on my behalf.

Good luck.

 

[87ttopstang]

The alarm did not have keyless entry. That is why I am confused as to what the red and blue wire is. I believe you are right, the lock and unlock wires are pink. They have not been touched.

I am trying to install a keyless entry system. I was removing all the old junk to put in a simpler system.

In reply to the tailight suggestion. I have just removed my stock bumper and replaced it with a cobra rear. Maybe I did something to the wiring when I removed the old bumper.

I suck at electrical solutions.

 

[87ttopstang]

Checked the wiring to tailights...seems fine. Fuse still blowing as soon as light switch is turned on. Any help....PLEASE!!!!

 

[87ttopstang]

If a positive wire had a bare spot and was rubbing on a stainless firewall shield....would that cause the fuse to blow? It looks like the wire going to my fuel pressure gauge for the light in it might have a bare spot.

I am trying to think of anything.

 

[RBRANDX]

Get a test light and get to work! Start at the rear of the car and make sure you are getting power to the lights, since they are not working, they are not likely to show 12v+ so trace the wires all the way to the switch, and check the switch itself, you should be able to find the cause somewhere along the way. The good news is the electrical system in fox stangs' is very basic, so even for the electrical novice, easy to fix. Just be patient, and I am sure you wil find the problem....Good luck, and let us know what the cause was.

 

[87ttopstang]

I know there is no power because the fuse blows as soon as the lights are turned on. I am going to check the bare wire tomorrow.

 

[HISSIN50]

That bare wire should be the first thing to address. For a temp/testing purposes, even wrapping it in electrical tape or some other insulator can help a lot. If the fuse doesnt blow, you found the issue. Fix it and deal with the lack of taillights. And if you tails worked before, go back over all the wires you touched - there might be a cut wire that was not reattached or insulated, and now it's shorting to ground.

Good luck.