I'll start off by saying i'm a dumbass because i have a feeling i fried a relay...

Today I was hard wiring my ipod, and doing some other audio work and the only thing i can think of that caused this issue is a ground wire slipped out from behind a screw i was loosening. After doing the work and double checking my connections, i turned the key a click and got NOTHING. No power to anything. No radio power, no power door locks, no *dinging* sound when you have keys in the ignition while the door is open, alarm wont work.... Nada.

When i click the key one more notch, everything seems to work except the stereo and dome light. The dome lights fuse was blown but the radio's seemed fine. I used a voltmeter and the radio is not getting any power via one of the two power imputs (it uses both constant 12v and aux 12v). The car starts, headlights work, brake lights are fine as are turn signals, cluster lighting, my hard wired Valentine one, etc.

I ran through all the fuses in both the passenger compartment and the box under the hood and the only blown one was the dome light.

This leads me to believe a relay fried. The owners manual doesn't specify what each of the little black relays pictured with the fuses below do so i'm flying blind.

Do any of you guys know what controls the power when there is no key in the ignition and when you only give it one click? Anyone have a shop manual they can check for me???

I have a feeling this is going to be expensive....


Thanks in advance!

 

Btw.... who edited my thread, removing the photos?

I'd prefer if someone could maybe circle the Relay i need to replace if possible.

 

you shouldn't be able to blow up anything if a groundwire broke free...unless it managed to hit something that was powered which would be nearly impossible if your wiring was all bundled up and would be definitely impossible if you were doing your wiring with the battery disconnected.

i would guess that your problem lies more in your wiring, so even if you fix what's blown it will simply blow again.

verify your wiring again...


as soon as I get home from work i'll check my shop manual and post the relevant info.

i hope someone else can help you before then, but if not i'll be sure to post up.

 

I've done dozens of installs and the issue happened when i tapped my Ipod into the constant power leads inside the dash to keep all wiring out of sight. Unfortunately the ground slipped after i mounted everything up and Pow... goes the relay.

Btw.... if you remove a Relay.... can you use a multimeter to find the culprit? I may just ask the dealer and find the part number.

 

btw.... i'm now ordering a pair of boston acoustics Pro Series 6 3/4 components and right now being shipped from the jolly UK is a SoundStream Reference 1000s 1000 watt RMS sub amp. Its definitely going to push these speakers sooooo glean.

 

weird... I hard wired my Sirius and now my dome light wont work... I had it originally wired to the map light power and ground wires and set the unit in the sunglasses holder. Once I figured out that power is switched by the door I removed it and tapped to power under the dash. Now no dome light when the door opens but I can switch it on manually??? Wonder if these problems are related...

On a side note: you may want to get a jump start on fabricating some baffles for those speakers. I got to installing some Kenwood 6.75 last night only to find out they aren't direct replacements... had to run to home depot for some MDF and now I'm riding around in a gutted evo for the day

 

jump the relays.......

 

You have a quick explanation on this? Does it involved taking out a good relay with the same specs and dropping it into the other spots just to see which one is bad? Or i can just take it to the dealer and have the service guy point out which one.


OH..... one you you lovely gentelmen could PM me with a schematic.... I need a shop guide badly.

e-mail me if you have one at andrewkalionzes@adelphia.net

 

my bad......run a positive and negative wire from a 12-14v source. (like a cordless drill battery or something like that) take off your relays and jump (power) each lead.

each relay should have 5 leads. (2 leads will actually cause a click=working) the other leads are the signals and ground, dont worry about trying different combinations. its either going to be on a normally closed or normally open type of relay. your really just trying to make an audible click to verify the relays still works.

if no combination causes a click, it MIGHT be a bad relay

 

did you actually test continuity for all the atc and atm style fuses and not just pull them out and look at them? a fuse can short out but not be visable shorted. its just too week to allow current flow now and didn't "blow up" like most cases do. i've been doing professional mobile electronics installs for years now and i've seen it happen a million times. i always use my digital multi meter to test ALL fuses. oh and btw, you would blow a main fuse before you do any damage to a relay which really isn't possibly by working on the circuits you are. that would come from doing something like shorting the constant power in the main ignition harness to ground. hope this helps.

 

I'll get back to tearing things apart in the morning and see whati can find out. I'm almost positive it happened when i accidently ungrounded my deck while it was running.

I'm just confused why ALL constant power is not working but everything works smooth as silk when i turn the key to almost start the car.

I have a feeling one of those relays is dedicated to keep constant power to certain things in the vehicle. If you could take a look, i'd really appreciate it.

 

i know after market decks will have a small internal fuse....maybe the stock stereo does too. Also, arent there two very tiny fuses on the positive lead of the battery cable...I would think you would have more problems if they were blown. I am too lazy to look up the wiring diagram though. That would be your best option for troubleshooting.

 

Andrew- I'm putting something for you up on my FTP server. Check your PM shortly for directions.