First time electrical with pics.

[landcrshr]

Found this.

This may be what you need to replace that burnt wire from the fuse box.



Not sure about the junction connector though, I'd have to see that.

 

[OG 91 LC]

Working on a multimeter. I'm gonna see if I can peel back more of the tape to reveal further down the loom until it gets to that T or splice.

Thanks landcrshr for that pic. I know I eventually I will have to make that connection.

I've looked at the wiring diagram. Still a bit confusing.

How much of this wire will I have to go further back and check???? Which areas???

Days are short. A bit difficult to come back home and work on the truck.

Stay tuned.

 

[landcrshr]

How much of this wire will I have to go further back and check????

Depends on your confidence level, that gauge circuit goes everywhere!

Which areas???

The list is long, got the EWD?
Refer to section H, POWER SOURCE (Current Flow Chart).
Starting on page 42, the chart lists the fuses and their related systems.

 

[OG 91 LC]

Okay. So that gauge wire goes everywhere. But from what I can tell with some of the wiring I have found behind the dash, near the B Pillars, and in the rear of the truck is that the wire looks fine. Not stuck or fused together with other wires.

Now, near the fuse block is where this yellow wire has bonded with neighboring wire or wires.

I'm going to expose more of the wire loom by pulling back more of the black wrapping.

My initial reaction is to try to pull the bonded wire apart. In doing so the insulation from the (gauge) wire may lose some of its insulation.

So am I looking for a place down that wire where the wire seems to be fine???? That way I may splice and get it to connect back to the fuse block????

I have yet to look for the black/black white wire down DS A pillar.

Any of you know where that connection leads to down the A pillar/knee/kick panel????

 

[landcrshr]

So am I looking for a place down that wire where the wire seems to be fine???? That way I may splice and get it to connect back to the fuse block????

Chances are, that wire is melted all the way to the source of the problem..........but I may be wrong.

I have yet to look for the black/black white wire down DS A pillar.

Any of you know where that connection leads to down the A pillar/knee/kick panel????

Left kick panel, BUT!
On vehicles with moon roofs, there is an additional cable where the wires change colors.
You are looking for a 6-pin connector amongst the bundle of wiring that goes up the pillar (if you have an alarm it will be tapped into this connector).

The wires from the dome light here will be:
Blue/yellow (#2, +12v "DOME" circuit), and:
Red/blue (#3, to front door switches)

 

[OG 91 LC]

Okay. So I have been reading as much as I can and watching some vids on how to use a multimeter and finding a grounded short on a vehicle.

I ran into a video where there was a connection made to a couple of wires using some clips. Then the guy ran a wand through the wire loom and it made a beep where there was a connection and it was silent where there was a break. BRILLIANT!!!! $140 brilliant??? Maybe.

I'm a bit confused. Sorry for my newbieness.
Here are some more questions.

1. Am I essentially looking for this "break" in the continuity of this particular (gauge) wire????

2. Since the (gauge) wire was snipped at the fuse block is this going to effect the continuity of the (gauge) wire????

3. Assuming I find the "break" or short or grounded short I then have to check the (gauge) wire and it's integrity all the way from fuse block to the break????

4. I don't even know if these questions are pertinent to the wire issue??? Am I totally off??

 

[86tuning]

Going back to second row dome light. When I first bought the truck it was running a DVD system that had been taken out and only dome light connection was left ( maybe. Go back to pics above).

I decided to cut this cable because we ( my cousin) and I felt it wasn't factory and we thought it was running all the wiring for DVD system.

That could very well be the root of the problem.

Whenever I sever a wire bundle, I will clip each individual wire at different lengths and tape each individual wire to prevent short circuits.

In your case, you can trace to find the other end of your wire bundle and completely remove it...

Also the pic of the connector with the two bare spots on the two wires behind, you should individually tape those up to keep them from touching each other, or anything else.

 

[86tuning]

The cause of the melted insulation is a short circuit, sometimes called a dead short to ground.

The diagnostic process is to usually remove the fuse for the circuit and replace it with a test light. This is any light bulb with a pair of wires on it that can be plugged into the fuse holder to substitute the fuse. At that point, when the key is turned on, the light will usually glow brightly. Start unplugging stuff and disconnecting stuff until the light goes out in order to find the circuit or area that's shorted.

In your case, I would start with the obvious aftermarket accessory wiring. Slit the bundle open and individually tape up the tips of the wires to keep them from shorting. As I mentioned in the post above, when we do it here, we clip them at different lengths (1/8~1/4" is plenty) to keep them from EVER touching one another, even if the tape falls off.

Use black vinyl electrical tape. The 3M brand stuff is good n cheap, and a single $2 roll goes a long way.

 

[OG 91 LC]

The diagnostic process is to usually remove the fuse for the circuit and replace it with a test light. This is any light bulb with a pair of wires on it that can be plugged into the fuse holder to substitute the fuse. At that point, when the key is turned on, the light will usually glow brightly. Start unplugging stuff and disconnecting stuff until the light goes out in order to find the circuit or area that's shorted. In your case, I would start with the obvious aftermarket accessory wiring.

But since my (gauge) wire is cut at the fuse block won't that be an issue???? I'm assuming this needs to be connected in order for me to check what items are causing my electrical issues.

Or am I way off?????

 

[landcrshr]

You can still connect a test light up to that wire and any battery source.

 

[sdnative]

There's an paper copy of the EWD for sale in the classifieds. For a 95 but the differences should be minimal.

 

[OG 91 LC]

Thanks Eric. I have the '96 EWD on my computer. I stare at from time to time.

 

[OG 91 LC]

Okay gents. Here's what I was able to do today. I wanted to see how far back the insulation on the (gauge) yellow wire had been melted. I removed this Then that gave me a bit more room to work with. So I decided to cut some of wrapping on the loom and peel back. I didn't have to go that far back to find an intact piece of the (gauge) wire that had not got super hot and burnt. Check it. That's a good 12" of wire that I may be able to replace and connect back to the fuse box. Okay. So here's me using my multimeter. Yes I gotz one. Connecting to ground and red to wire: And this is what it read. So what does this mean????? I also removed tape from wire on dome light. And used multimeter. The numbers were all over the place. So what does this mean??? Ok fellas. What you all think???? Stay tuned for more.

 

[OG 91 LC]

I also don't know what to look for down in the kick panel area coming from DS A pillar to find the connection for the center dome wiring.

 

[OG 91 LC]

Here's what my investigative work found today.

There is a bundle of wires, some still attached, that were part of the second row DVD entertainment system. Take a look.




I believe they were bundled with zip ties at the radio installer since the installer tried to clean thing up behind dash.

Now since some of the wires were still attached and led to different parts of the truck I decided to trace them to their location.

Two black wires and one white.

One black wire led to this.











Dead end.

The second wire led to this.









The third and white wire led to this.





This was at one time attached to rear DS tail light for reverse operation to back up camera.

But I also found this along floor near DS front door.





Now here's what I think may have happened.

Now if all of this wiring was connected when I first purchased the truck and I had the carpet shampooed, and it caused my stereo to not come on, nor my dome lights, and caused my parking lights to stay on, then I suspect it was due to this wire being cut and some water from the carpets being shampooed to cause the 10 amp fuse to pop.

At one time I replaced the 10 amp dome fuse in the fuse box in the engine bay. And I just found it had blown again a few weeks ago.


Now a question for you all is could this event with my stereo and the cut wire combined with heavy water on the carpeting and floor cause the gauge wire to have burn????

Thanks again fellas.

Stay tuned.

 

[86tuning]

That cut white wire, when shorted to ground could definitely cause the meltage you've found. Tape it up, or better yet, remove all of the aftermarket wiring.

Then repair your burnt wire, install another fuse, then do the happily ever after thing.

 

[OG 91 LC]

I'm really hoping that's the case.

I haven't checked the wiring diagram and not that I can really understand it, but

How does this event along a 10 amp circuit that is in conjunction with radio, cig lighter, and dome lights cause a wire at the fuse box that is connected to a diff 10 amp fuse to get hot and burn???

Did you guys get that????

Are they connected in some way that I don't know????

Also, could this exposed (gauge) wire, when it was still connected and touching some neighboring wires, cause disruption or some sort of interference? Or do wires that are exposed, like the (gauge) yellow wire, and touching neighboring insulated wires not an issue?

Thanks fellas.

 

[OG 91 LC]

I'm also looking into disconnecting the factory amp and sub woofer since I have read that this is also cause for 10 amp fuse to blow when a after market radio is installed

 

[landcrshr]

How does this event along a 10 amp circuit that is in conjunction with radio, cig lighter, and dome lights cause a wire at the fuse box that is connected to a diff 10 amp fuse to get hot and burn???

Are they connected in some way that I don't know????

All of these circuits coexist in the radio wire harness. They could have very well been connected together, either by mis-wiring, getting pinched together (with ground), or by the radio itself failing and shorting out.

Also, could this exposed (gauge) wire, when it was still connected and touching some neighboring wires, cause disruption or some sort of interference? Or do wires that are exposed, like the (gauge) yellow wire, and touching neighboring insulated wires not an issue?

It's an issue if it melts through the insulation of neighboring wires.

Sounds like you're making progress, way to go!

PS. Get the hard-copy EWD, it makes it easier to understand the whole picture. Plus, it lets you flip between wiring diagrams and location diagrams.

 

[landcrshr]

2.624 thousand Ohms...GOOD!

If the reading is "all over the place", that usually means there is voltage present on that wire.