teasdam Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 ok, I was asking earlier how to hook up my wiring on my 1990 loyale and this is what i ended up with...please double check me! I went to attach the battery neg terminal and I got sparks flying everywhere and billowing smoke, ay carumba!!!! Two grounds to the water pump pipe, one off the body just in front of the battery; the other emerging from the area below the coolant res. Going to the positive terminal, I have the following attached.... a lead off the fusible links (attached to the coolant res), a green wire that comes out of the dash and runs around behind the fuel filter, behind the coolant res to the battery, then there are two wires coming out of a loom just behind the battery, actually one of those "wires" is actually a meshy metal looking thing. So all in all there are four wires going to the pos term, and none to the neg. Except for the ones I asked about, I know that this is how the wires were configured when I got the car...whether or not that was correct to begin with I don't know. Ok, now the first time I saw sparks fly, they seemed to originate somewhere around the TBI and showered down on the bell housing area. I looked around but could find no evidence of anything burnt, melted, or otherwise electrically damaged. I pulled the entire loom of wires that run to the TPS, fuel injector, etc and removed all the tape and loom to inspect them. Again I saw nothing, so I taped them back up and put it all back on and tried again. Second attempt...not nearly as many sparks but lots o' smoke. This time it was obvious where it came from. There are 4 wires that continue out the end of the loom and go to a ground bolt just to the passenger side of the thermostat. These were corroded before so I had cut them and spliced new wires. The new wires are what melted (the second time anyway) but there is no evidence of damage to the original wiring. I spliced the four original grounds to two smaller gauge wires just so they would fit the connector I had. So my questions... 1. You guys with similar cars...does it sound like I have the wiring connected right? 4 wires to +, none to -, 2 grounds to water pipe 2. If the wiring is so far correct, is the problem that I just spliced down to fewer and smaller wires at the end there? I thought a ground shouldn't have that much juice unless something else is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Carumba, I am sorry these connections to the positive terminal, the meshy looking thing and the green wire, do not sound factory. Nor do four melted ground wires (no color indicated? are they all black coming out of the main harness?) Pictures would sure help. Here is a method you can use to prevent a Chernoble next time you try it. Wire a light bulb (like a trailer light or any form of aux. light you can scronge up) in series with the negative cable. IF you have a major short -which you do - the light will light. Remove wires untill the light goes out. Then we can find out where the wires should be going. If anyone ever needed a wiring diagram -- it be you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teasdam Posted January 22, 2004 Author Share Posted January 22, 2004 if I remember, the four ground wires were black with a thin red stripe on them. They were bolted down right next to the thermostat towards the passenger side. I think the green wire ran into the dash through the same whole that the heater hoses enter through... If I can scrounge up a camera, I'll get some pics for you I had the battery tested to ensure I didn't blow it to smithereenies and it's ok for now. Now is there any way to determine if I blew up the ECM? Also, I checked the fuses under the steering wheel and none were blown...are there any other places I should check for damage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Yes, there will be a way to see if the ECU be toast -after we find the dead short. I guess my light in series trick doesn't appeal to you, well we need to find which wire is wrong, my guess is "wires" is actually a meshy metal looking thing. I have looked for that one and do not see it on my cars. Pictures = kilowords I emailed you, sorry about the PM box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 It sounds to me the meshy wire you are talking about is a ground strap. These are very flexable and are low resistance to RF signals. There are some of these on the car and I seem to remember one behind the battery. You are going to have to trace the wires back that smoked and see what they are tied to. Whatever is tied to them, is shorted out. This may be a ground for the alternator but I'm not sure. After you find out what is causing this you should hook up a light like Skip suggested or do an ohmmeter check of the power cables before connecting to the battery again. You want to be sure there will be no more sparks. I doubt you damaged the ECU on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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