First of all, I apologize in advance if I use the wrong wording, or ask questions that seem really simple. I promise that I've spent hours googling and reading things, and I just need a little more guidance. I've never touched electrical before this car, and I'm technically minded, so I'm hoping to learn about it while fixing the issues on this car.

I have a 1995 Honda Accord. I have the service manual for it. I have the electrical diagrams. I have a multimeter. And electrical tape Basically, I bought it knowing that the wiring in the dash was ridiculous, but it's mechanically sound. I have no idea what was done to it before.

Problem #1 - I have no air conditioning. The cooling fan does not come on, and the AC condenser does not come on. The 20A fuse for the cooling fan was blown. I replaced it, and it immediately blew again.

Problem #2 - There was some ridiculous radio wiring going on. It used to blow my small lights fuse all the time. So I removed everything. Right now my whole dash is basically gutted. I removed the stereo, unplugged everything that could be drama, and replaced the fuse. It doesn't blow anymore, but now I need to figure out how to get everything back together properly.

Problem #3 - The antenna in the trunk.... I dunno what's up with it. It's just sitting in the trunk.

So, here's what I've deduced so far.

When testing continuity from the ground wire on the heater fan switch to ground, the multimeter said there was a short. This is probably because the heater fan switch molex connector is melted. How to I fix that?

When testing continuity between the cigarette lighter ground relay to ground, it said there was a short. I'm trying to trace the wiring from the cigarette lighter up the chain, but my question here is, if I unplugged all of the accessories, are there any wires that specifically have to be terminated if they don't go anywhere? Like, if I unplugged the cigarette lighter, is the molex connector to it ok to sit open like that?

What about the red and yellow ignition/battery wires that go into the back of the radio? I don't see those in the wiring diagram, and I don't seem to be getting any voltage through them, but I could be testing them wrong. Same with the antenna wire. What should I be getting through there?

I had read that you can test for short circuits by disconnecting the negative battery terminal, taking a reading with the multimeter on the negative and positive battery terminals (?) and then removing each fuse to identify which circuit has a short. Is that method still valid if the fuse is blown? Can I use this method to check if i resolved the short circuit before using another fuse?

Also, none of my stereo wires match up to the colors they should be according to the diagram. How can I check each one to see what they would be?

And just as general info, as I'm testing things, what things should I absolutely not do that might get me hurt or break something important? Assume that all of my testing will be in the dash section, since that's where most of the problem wiring exists.

Again, I'm really trying to learn, so please be gentle and use small words

 

#1 - Replace blower switch, remove blower connector and check for 12V to the connector w/ blower switch on highest speed. If fuse blows again, either shorted wiring from fuse box to fan or perhaps wrong fuse. My manual shows a 40A fuse for fuse 17 in under dash fuse box.

#2 - use wiring diagram and wire colors to sort out wires that are damaged/spliced and repair/replace as necessary. Somewhere they spliced to original wiring.

#3 - Re-install antenna behind LR trunk liner cover. Several fasteners to release. I replaced my power motor w/ a fixed flexible black antenna w/ screw off antenna. No more power antenna problems!

good luck

 

So the ground wires on the blower switch & the lighter relay are shorted to ground?

When you test continuity of a ground wire, it's SUPPOSED to be connected to ground. The meter might display that as a short, but really that means it IS connected to ground.

Maybe I'm not understanding what you tested?

 

Oooh, it's entirely possible that I messed that up. I put my multimeter on continuity test, put one end in the black wire, and one end on the ground nut thing. The meter buzzed and said SHRT. So that's OK?

 

Does your meter display the same thing "SHRT" when you touch the 2 leads together? Some meters display 0.00 (ohms) when you do that.

Yeah, what that means is that there IS continuity from the ground wire to whatever metal you used (ground nut). Just like there's supposed to be.

A "hot" wire (like the + battery cable) is not supposed to be connected to the metal of the car. A ground wire IS supposed to be connected to the metal of the car.

In other situations you might want to use that function to test whether a wire is broken. Touch the meter leads to opposite ends of a wire (say one end at the ECU and the other end in the engine compartment). Test whether that same wire is connected to ground by touching one meter lead to the wire & the other meter lead to solid metal ground. Use the circuit drawings to figure out whether any particular wire is SUPPOSED to be connected to ground or not.