ok so the other day i needed to get my car inspected. i have an after market steering wheel in my car and the horn in it is not hooked up so i needed to hook up a switch to make it work temporarilly so i could pass. well i hooked up the switch (tapped into the cig lighter power) and everything was working fine

jump to friday when i was coming home from work i was trying to move the wiring that was run to the switch out of the way (all i did was run the wires, they were just kind of there, not tucked away or anything) and one of the tabs on the wires touched a screw in my interior and sparked. nothing shut off and the car was still running as normal even after it sparked.

i shut the car off when i stopped next and when i went to start it again it was completely dead. listed below is roughly what im experiencing

- clock on dash is working as normal, when i first got back to the car i noticed it had reset at 1:00 (normally happens when the battery is unhooked and hooked back up). the door dinger is also working when the car is off still, as is the main cabin dome light.

the time will change to either 1:00, 3:00, or 0:00 every time the key is turned to "on" and then back to "off"

- every time i turn the key to "on" the clock shuts off, dinger stops, and nothing else happens, totally dead. everything listed above works again as normal when key is turned back to "off"

- when the maplight near the sunroof is turned on everything goes dead

- when the headlights are turned on everything goes dead

- when the hazards are turned on a quick buzz sound comes from underneath the steering column, the hazards do not turn on, the door dinger cuts off, but the clock stays and the dome light still works.


i am really stumped by this and im thinking it is probably a short somewhere i just have no idea where to start looking.


what i have done so far to try to diagnose the problem is

- checked all fuses in the car and engine bay (12V fuse in the interior was blown, i replaced it and it did not fix the problem)

- checked battery connection/terminals, all were clean and fine

- checked the signal wire to the starter, it was fine


any help would be greatly appreciated.

thank you

 

It sounds like your battery has so little charge that when you try to power on something of a high current draw nature (such as a light) it takes the power away from everything else in an attempt to power on what you are trying to use. I would check that switch and make sure that the uncovered connection is not touching any ground point, and then charge your battery and try to start the car again. It sounds like you most likely blew a fuse when the switch connection initially hit the screw (typically happens when a positive lead is accidentally grounded), so if the aforementioned doesn't work then I would check all fuses with a meter (check for resistance between two fuse terminals, should read close to 0). Once that is done and faulty fuses are replaced if necessary, then it should work again. Let me know if that works.