A while back, I replaced the headlight motor on my '88 firebird. After I did that, the radio, dome light, horn, door locks, and hatch lock stopped working. the door locks still work with the button on the alarm remote but not from inside the, but the rear hatch will not open without using the key (there is a button inside the car as well as on the remote).
when I replaced the headlight motor, I was an a$shole and forgot to disconnect the battery. when I pulled the top part of the motor out, the rod that spins the gears on the bottom touched the side of the motor case. It made a spark. Now, as I explained above, stuff stopped working on the car. I'm only looking into this now as I've been replacing a leaking head gasket so I put the electrical problem on the backburner. Any info would help as I don't know a whole lot about electrical systems.
Thanks in advance
2007-06-25 15:18:41 · 4 answers · asked by fireturd_owner88 3 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Check the fuses first. Start by determining exactly what isn't working. Check everything and make a list of dead items. They are probably all accessories of some kind. I.E. they only operate when the key is "ON" or in the "ACCESSORY" position. Locate, remove, ohms check and replace them as necessary. If you find any bad ones you will have to go back to your list and check off the items you fixed.
If the fuses are OK and you still have dead equipment my money is on a fusable link.
The fuses are easy to check but the links are another matter entirely. You will need a multimeter, a good wiring diagram, a diagram indicating the location of the links and a pretty good understanding of how to use all of them. It took me two days to find one in a Subaru. Chilton's and Hayne's manuals are fairly good. I have a copy of both for all the cars I own. They would be a minimum requirement for troubleshooting the problem you describe. They have reasonably good wiring guides and sometimes they give you a brief rundown on how to troubleshoot an electrical problem. If you don't feel you have the skills to give it a try I suggest you find a good shade tree mechanic, an electronics technician or start learning automotive electrics.
If you are in the Sacramento, Ca. area, drop me an email at my profile. Sorry but I couldn't begin to tell you how to troubleshoot this. I have a year of intense electronic training (8 hrs. a day 5 days a week), over 20 years experience and I would use half of it or more troubleshooting your problem.
Good luck, if you find something you don't understand that email will work for that too...
2007-06-25 15:55:49 · answer #1 · answered by gimpalomg 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You probably grounded out a wire when you replaced the motor. Any time you're working on anything with wires, you always need to disconnect the battery. Check your in-cabin and under-hood fuses, and use a continuity tester, don't just eyeball them. Sometimes it's hard to tell that they're blown. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why my radio wouldn't come on once, and the fuse looked ok. It wasn't.
2007-06-25 15:44:24 · answer #2 · answered by sovereign_carrie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
check the fuses wild guess but cheap to check good luck if you are really wanting to work on the car yourself buy a book on that year for the car it may remind you of the little things we forget
2007-06-25 15:24:40 · answer #3 · answered by amberlyn00 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hopefully, all you did was to blow a fuse or two. Good luck. And if you can't get it going again then take it to an auto electric repair shop.
2007-06-25 15:36:09 · answer #4 · answered by Fordman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋