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Fuse Box/Electrical Fire

Old 03-11-2016, 06:44 PM
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Fuse Box/Electrical Fire

I recently replaced the motor mount adapter on my driver side so I had to move the fuse box out the way. Put everything back together and things seemed fine but while I was working on something else I saw smoke suddenly coming from my engine so I immediately disconnected the battery.

I put the wires almost exactly like the picture below with two wires attached to the fuse box bolt.



When only the wire that goes to the battery is attached things are fine and when only the other wire is attached there was no smoke but obviously the car wouldnt turn on. But when both were attached a pretty decent amount of smoke was coming from the engine bay.

2 questions:
1. What is the second wire that doesnt lead to the battery?
2. And how do I prevent my car from catching fire and exploding?
Old 03-11-2016, 11:02 PM
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Uhhh, those wires aren't OEM.
Old 03-13-2016, 01:41 AM
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I know thats not actually my engine bay. its just a picture I found that looks similar to what mine does. When i googled it I found a thread that said there should be two wires attached to the positive post that sticks out the fuse box.
Old 03-13-2016, 04:45 AM
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one goes to the alternator and the other goes to the battery. check the run from the alt to fusebox because the other one would be "live" regardless. hopefully you didnt fry your fusebox
Old 03-13-2016, 08:40 PM
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Originally Posted by EmperorJJ1
one goes to the alternator and the other goes to the battery. check the run from the alt to fusebox because the other one would be "live" regardless. hopefully you didnt fry your fusebox
Alright will do thanks. And I don't think I did But fingers crossed.

Any idea what would cause all the smoke?
Old 03-13-2016, 09:03 PM
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if the wire is pinched or grounding out somewhere thats probably the cause
Old 03-15-2016, 09:59 PM
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Originally Posted by EmperorJJ1
if the wire is pinched or grounding out somewhere thats probably the cause
So finished fixing my cv Axle today and when I got around to testing the fusebox issue I ran into the same issue minus the smoking. I checked as best I could for an pinched wires but everything looks fine.

If I even touch the wire that's supposed to go to the alternator to the positive post of the fusebox my wipers go off and my lights quickly flash...


The copper one is the one giving me problems. The small wire is for my HIDs and the other onend goes to my battery. Wtf is going on.
Old 03-15-2016, 10:03 PM
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maybe its just me but that ring doesnt look stock and it looks like its barely hanging on. Did you route the wire to the alternator?
Old 03-15-2016, 10:16 PM
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Originally Posted by EmperorJJ1
maybe its just me but that ring doesnt look stock and it looks like its barely hanging on. Did you route the wire to the alternator?
From what I can tell that bunch of wires seem to go to the lights and windshield wiper fluid dispenser... and honestly as hard as I try to remember I definitely don't remember seeing it attached to my fusebox before.
Old 03-15-2016, 10:43 PM
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maybe thats a ground? but where would it have come from? The stock alternator wire end looks exactly like battery one and you should be able to trace it to the alternator. it would be a single thick wire that isnt going anywhere but to the alternator.
Old 03-15-2016, 10:49 PM
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Thats what I was thinking. And what is it a ground to? The weird thing the wires attached to it go in two different directions. 2 of the wires inside go to the lights/wiper fluid. The other I couldnt follow because it got too dark.

Maybe its the alternators ground? Maybe whoever owned my car first combined the alternator/battery positive? Idek.
Old 03-15-2016, 11:35 PM
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the battery pos is stock. you would have a hard time getting that connector and chrimp especially if you were ghetto rigging things

your best bet might be to try finding the wire at the alt and seeing where it goes from there?
Old 03-16-2016, 01:18 AM
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Yeah Ill try to do that tomorrow morning. If its not a ground and I attach it to a ground screw could anything bad happen?
Old 03-16-2016, 01:39 AM
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if is hooked up to the headlights i want to say no but if its hooked to the alt then most definitely. So i cant really say unless i knew what it was. you could always get a multi meter and test that connection with the ground wire on the lights and see if there is continuity. If so that would give you a for sure its supposed to be a ground

You said you dont remember it being on the pos post. do you remember where it was? even an idea?
Old 03-16-2016, 02:02 PM
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So I went back out there this morning and maybe it was the glorious sun but I noticed that there is another ground wire with the same exact connector grounded beneath the coolant tank. So I'm pretty sure its a ground for something.






^^^This is the one under the coolant tank. So my questsion is should I connect the mystery wire to this same screw or attach it underneath the fusebox like:

Old 03-16-2016, 02:47 PM
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So I attached the connector ton the stub underneath the coolant tank and car wouldn't start. Tried turning on the lights and one side started smoking. Not good. But the wipers worked normally. However, if the mystery wire is not attached to anything the wipers will go off continously.
Old 03-17-2016, 12:59 AM
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**** idk man all this wires smoking had me pretty worried
Old 03-17-2016, 07:18 PM
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Yeah I'm almost positive I fried the started or something else. Probably just gonna have to go through it one by one and figure out what I messed up lol.
Old 03-19-2016, 04:49 PM
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Replaced the starter today. Still only get one click and no start.
Old 03-19-2016, 04:57 PM
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does anything change if you unplugg the battery and try again after 10 mins or so
Old 03-19-2016, 05:36 PM
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Is the battery charged? That copper terminal is definitely a ground..
Old 03-19-2016, 05:41 PM
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well when I switched the started the battery was unplugged for about an hour or so.

Just checked using a multimeter and the battery is reading 12.08V or so. Seems a bit low as most people say it should be around 12.4.
Old 03-19-2016, 05:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Slowbalt2000
Is the battery charged? That copper terminal is definitely a ground..
Well battery is reading around 12.1V. not exactly fully charged
Old 03-19-2016, 06:00 PM
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Originally Posted by EmperorJJ1
does anything change if you unplugg the battery and try again after 10 mins or so
Left battery unplugged then trried again and no change. I did the jumper cable/screwdriver starter test and the started pops out and spins so I think the old started is good.
Old 03-19-2016, 07:08 PM
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Referring to the 2 oem lugs/wires on the fusebox post: The one wire goes to the battery. The other one goes to the starter, not the alternator. There is another wire that jumps from the starter to the alternator.

The mystery one you posted definitely looks like an oem ground

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