Well since there have been a lont of wiring posts late.y = I may as well let
everyone know what happened Friday night. I wasn't gonna post about it
because 1) its humiliating and 2) I'm very depressed.
After I got the 4x4 running finally, new engine, new tires, alignment, all
new suspension and steering , new radiator, new bumper etc etc etc... I
started wed. on the instalation of a pair of Hella 550 Driving lights and a
5 light set of cab roof mount clearence lights (Dodge Ram part kit).
Wed. I worked on the truck until 3:30 am - I had removed interior panels,
the headliner, measured the locations for the roof lights, drilled holes,
installed them, wired it up to the individual lights... then for the Hellas,
I was mounting them under the bumper so I had bought a new plastic air dam
that had holes in it for fogs.
I had to remove the old dam, then bold on the new one, bold on the Hellas,
and then wire it up with the harness and a power relay. I couldnt finish it
up that night. so I went back Thursday to work on it again. I wired up and
got the Hellas working... but the cab lights were still out.. in the mean
time I had been driving it around since Wed. with the headliner out and the
interior a mess.
Friday night (lastnight) I went back out to finish the job up... I was
wiring up the roof lights and ran into a problem, when I realized I didnt
have the ground wires properly set up.. so I disconnected the hella light
switch and pulled the wires off the terminals to redo the ground wires for
it all... everything was turned off (engine running) but no lights on.
Everything was fused .. accept a single wire that ran from the battery to
the Hella light switch - that terminal hit something metal and everything
shorted. Smoke spewing from everywhere - the cab filled up with smoke smoke
bellowed from under the hood... wires hlowing red hot. I killed the engine -
scrambled to get the hood up and ripped off the wire from the battery
terminal with an insulated pliers - heres the good part.
The hella wires are melted, part of the clearence light wireing is melted,
the ground wire to the headlamp switch is melted and fused with other wires.
The key-in-ignition-reminder buzzer is shorted and wont turn off.. I removed
the buzzer modual to make it stop. The snow plow control wires are melted
through. I don't know the extent of the damage to the trucks under dash
wiring harness - I know the damned thing is partially fused to the ground
wire - but I'm afraid of additional shorting due to the damage caused by the
original short!!
I dont have the time, patience, money, or determination to rip that dash out
myself and replace the wireharness and I can't afford to have it done by a
shop - so now I have two dead trucks, nothing to drive, and lots of debt -
so you can see where I am at my witts end - over $10K has been invested in
this peice of @#$%!! here I sit wishing I was drunk.
Here I sit wishing I was drunk...What the flippin hell do I do now?????
I'm goin to bed... maybe I'll wake up and it will be nothing more than a bad
dream that I woke up from....
-----------------------------------
"That one has a strange blue neon thing... I'm betting theres cocane up
there" - Eddie Vedder
Tom (Silver98)
http://members.aol.com/silvereightynine/
webmaster@savechrysler.com
www.savechrysler.com
1989 Reg Cab, V6, Auto, 8 footer, 4x2
1989 Reg Cab, V6, Auto, 8 footer, 4x4 w plow
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