QuestionQUESTION: I pulled my radio out because it is an aftermarket and it was pushed all the way in... it sticks out a little. so I pulled it out to try to move somethings around so that it would fit and their was a spark. so after I pulled it out I saw 2 wires exposed, a blue wire and a black wire. I went in the house got electrical tape covered wires. came back outside first thing I noticed keyless entry was not working. then got in the car interior light not working, radio not working, power adjustable mirrors not working. WHAT CAN I DO? DESPERATE HERE!!!
ANSWER: Hi Jamar,
You have a blown fuse or perhaps two fuses. Look behind the left end-cap of the dash at fuse #5 (10 amp) and you will find that one is blown. Then if that doesn't restore everything check fuse #11 in the power box that is in the engine compartment (20 amp). I don't see a blue wire at the radio so take another look at it if things don't correct and see if it shows another color as a stripe, or might not be blue. Be sure there are no other exposed wires. The black wire is no doubt a ground wire.
Roland
PS Please 'rate' my answer, and where you see the question about 'volunteer of the month' consider a 'yes' answer. Thank you
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: found fuse it was #5. Took other fuse to auto zone said it was good. still not working. do u think I need to do a soft reset.. keyless entry, interior light, side mirrors, and radio still not working!
AnswerHi Jamar,
No, there is no basis for thinking about a 'soft reset'. Basically all the systems that aren't working need to have 12V power coming out of fuse #5 from the box behind the dash, which in turn must have power from fuse #11 in the power box in the engine compartment. It would help if you have a volt-ohm meter to know for sure whether you have 12v on both sides of fuse #5 because it may have blown again because there may be another pair of shorted together wires at the radio which you didn't notice and so the new fuse has blown. Do you have such a meter? If not and you don't want to buy one then get a 12V neon glow light which will visually tell you if you have voltage or not. One of the wires on the test light should be held on a shiny metal surface that is part of the body structure ('ground') and the other wire touched to the contacts on the fuse #5, one end and then the other. The light should glow if you have current in the circuit. If not, then either fuse 5 has blown again (inspect it visually) or if you don't get a glow on either end of that fuse then fuse 11 is blown. I would look again around the wires where the short first occured to see if there might not be some other wires that are burned if the fuse has blown again. And look again at the color of the wire that you found to shorted to the black wire and let me know. The wires on the radio are not likely to be identical to what would be shown on the Chrys radio that you replaced, so if the blue wire is on the radio side of the disconnect, what is the color on the wiring harness side of the interconnect for that burned wire? You might try disconnecting the radio entirely, put in a new fuse #5, and then see if all the non-functional items are working again (the interior lights, the door locks, the power mirrors).
This is a straightforward troubleshoot of a shorted circuit. It would be helpful to have a volt-ohm meter to test for short and thus not have to keep buying fuses which is an expensive way to find if you still have a short.
Roland
