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soooo. i had a lot of water getting into the passenger side door of my 95 olds ciera, and it was shorting causing my battery to die over night whenever it rained. its very cold here in michigan so i decided to just cut the wires going into that door and my plan was to rewire them and stop the leak in the spring. but for some crazy reason cutting the wires to that door caused me to lose all interior lights (besides dashboard) and the radio dont work. i found this really odd just from cutting the wires in that one door. Is there a wire that controls that in there or do you think i blew a fuse while cutting??? thanks,
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I don’t know what’s in that door without looking at a wiring diagram for your specific vehicle, but certainly if you just used a wire cutter to cut through the wires at the same time, you would have shorted something. Check your fuses. You should also either reconnect everything or cap off each individual wire end so they don’t short against each other or the body of the car (honestly, you’d be better off getting a junkyard replacement harness at this point). Now, just capping them off and replacing any burned fuses may not make everything work. If you have power windows and locks, the driver door may serve as a “master switch”. Also, depending how the door switch is wired (some are on the frame, some are in the latch), you may not have interior lights come on when you open the door because the door switch has been “disconnected”.
I guess you’re learning an important lesson though– it’s almost always worth just fixing stuff the right way from the start. You’ve now made a bunch more work for yourself.
+1 on the above post.
I would not recommend trying to make those type of short cuts.
Did you at least use any electrical tape to cover the exposed ends of wires?
like i said, it was a bonehead move. i normally would never have done it. but we are low on money after the holiday. i dont “recommend” those short cuts either. but yes i capped the ends off. but the interior light dont turn on when you open any door. and the radio not working? thats really wierd. i must have shorted it when i cut it and blew a fuse. everything but the int. lights. and power locks and windows on that door only, and the radio are not working. ill change the fuses and get back to ya. thanks for the help. i greatly appreciate any opinions u have.
also, its my ” backup vehicle”. all that wiring needed to be redone anyways(water in the door). so it was kind of a good mistake. im waitin til taxes and im doing quite a bit of work to it. A project! 🙂
It’s possible you blew a fuse but honestly it could also be that you severed part of a particular circuit and it can no longer operate as a result. The word ‘circuit’ indicates a circle and if you break any part of the circle it won’t be a circle anymore, the same is true for electrical circuits, the truth is I don’t know what runs through that door but if it’s part of the illumination circuit then even if you do replace a blown fuse the same thing will probably happen.
Your solution is either to replace the harness that you cut or repair each and every connection you severed, THEN you can begin to address the problem. Good luck.
As for water in the door. Usually there are some drain holes in the bottom. They could be plugged with debris. There also may be a rubber plug down there too. I have drilled new holes in doors to drain out water. The seal the runs along the bottom outer edge of the window is likely leaking and letting the water in.
For the wiring harness. Most likely there is a connector on the inside of the car behind the lower kickpanel. You should be able to disconnect there and then get a junkyard harness and replace after you fix the leak.
Quoted From katoranger:
As for water in the door. Usually there are some drain holes in the bottom. They could be plugged with debris. There also may be a rubber plug down there too. I have drilled new holes in doors to drain out water. The seal the runs along the bottom outer edge of the window is likely leaking and letting the water in.
For the wiring harness. Most likely there is a connector on the inside of the car behind the lower kickpanel. You should be able to disconnect there and then get a junkyard harness and replace after you fix the leak.
That’s an excellent point but by design the water comes into the door and drains out the bottom as you mentioned this is the reason that they put a ‘vapor barrier’ between the internal part of the door and external part so in short the window will ALWAYS ‘leak’ no matter what you do it’s just when it leaks INSIDE the passenger compartment that it becomes a problem.
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