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    13sldr's Avatar
    13sldr Posts: 237, Reputation: 17
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    #1

    Dec 13, 2008, 08:05 PM
    Electrical problems with my new car
    I bought a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GT the other day. Use of chourse. The car has approx 71000miles.the last owner of the car ovbuisosly did his/her own wiring and did a horrible job at that. I first noticed the flaws when I saw about 2 to 3 feet of red and black wires sitting at the right of the enging. I finally followed the wires to a switch which I believe was for the amp. As I was pulling out all the wires. I noticed a few opens and he/she used electrical tape. There is also a power wire connected to the batter, so I followed that and I noticed it didn't go through the fire-wall. I didn't follow it all the way.

    The first day I had the car it was great. The next day I went to turn on the light(cause it was night) and my gauge lights didn't light up along with my A/C-heater lights and the shifter lights. Over the last couple days I have noticed more and more things that arnt right with the electrical. The left front run light will not light up when I have my running lights on, along with the left rear running light. But the left front turn signle will light up when I engauge the turn signle (the left front running light and turn signle are the same thing on my car.) along with the running lights are small lamps on the inside of the head light assembly. The left inside lamp will not light up. Also the right licence plate isn't lighting up when it should

    Is the all one problem or is it different problems?
    twinkiedooter's Avatar
    twinkiedooter Posts: 12,172, Reputation: 1054
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    #2

    Dec 13, 2008, 08:57 PM

    However played home auto rewire on that car was an idiot to put it mildly. You need to have your car rewired - and no, I would not suggest that you do this job yourself unless you know what you are doing and have a schematic of what the car's wiring should look like. They saw you coming. You should not have purchased this car unless you got a really, really, really, really good deal on it as you got taken big time. Sorry. I am a good "horse trader" and have checked out cars myself and I would have turned this one down in a heartbeat. You should have turned it down also as this car is not going to be right again without a lot of moolah being spent on the rewiring of the electrical system. If you don't have it rewired, you could possibly be in an accident due to a light not working properly. Please take this car to your trusted mechanic and see how much this is going to cost, OK? If you buy another car, be sure to look under the hood very carefully or have your trusted mechanic check out the car for you and point out such obvious flaws as miswired electrical system.
    13sldr's Avatar
    13sldr Posts: 237, Reputation: 17
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    #3

    Dec 13, 2008, 09:09 PM

    I have a warnty on the car that covers everything but mantince things like tires, brake pads/shoes and oil changes and things like that, Monday we are going to call and find an electrican and get her looked at/fixed
    twinkiedooter's Avatar
    twinkiedooter Posts: 12,172, Reputation: 1054
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    #4

    Dec 14, 2008, 12:56 PM

    You don't need an electrician. You need a mechanic that knows all about car wiring!! I got to thinking about your car and I think the previous owner had suffered some vandalism on the wiring and the owner tried their best to somehow wire it back up and ended up with a mess.

    If the car runs fine other than the wiring, you might have gotten yourself a good car once the wiring is redone.
    mazak's Avatar
    mazak Posts: 148, Reputation: 5
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    #5

    Dec 14, 2008, 03:55 PM

    Could be an amateur stereo amp speaker installation, and when they sold the car they removed the stuff leaving the wiring behind.
    13sldr's Avatar
    13sldr Posts: 237, Reputation: 17
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    #6

    Dec 14, 2008, 06:41 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by twinkiedooter View Post
    You don't need an electrician. You need a mechanic that knows all about car wiring!!!

    I don't mean an electrician like some one that wires house, I mean like one that is ASE certified and his/her shop is strickly the electrical part of the car, I know just about every shop has ASE certified mechanic's. I am in auto in my high school and we have studied the electrical part of the car and I could possibly do this on my own but I am sure there is still more that I need to know before I even dare mess with my own car. But I also know how confusing/fustrating it can be to work on any electrical componet. And for a mechanic to know how to fix cars from breaks to engine over-hall then to work on a car that needs to have the electrical fixed, I don't know if I can trust that as much as someone that does strickly electrical.

    And yes, for what I have seen the last owner was deffently an amateur at doing his/her own wiring
    this8384's Avatar
    this8384 Posts: 4,564, Reputation: 485
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    #7

    Dec 15, 2008, 10:14 AM

    Just to state the obvious, have you checked the bulbs that you're saying aren't working? If I read the post right, you have a few running lights that are inoperative; the original owner may not have felt they were a big deal and left them burned out.

    Have you removed the added wiring from the vehicle or is it still in there?
    ShadyLady's Avatar
    ShadyLady Posts: 98, Reputation: 10
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    #8

    Dec 15, 2008, 02:12 PM

    Why don't you contact the previous owner and ask them about the car? Maybe they can give you some insight. Have them show you & go into detail on what they did, and write it down.
    You can get wiring diagrms if you get a manual.
    Stratmando's Avatar
    Stratmando Posts: 11,188, Reputation: 508
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    #9

    Dec 15, 2008, 03:54 PM

    Don't Panic, Its not as bad as it seems, Someone did their own wiring, Probably for running lights, stereo or other accessories, maybe an alarm system, following out like you did say you have a basic understanding. Follow wires out make sure nothing touches drilled out metal, should have a grommet, Fuse needs to be on Positive wire at battery,
    Disconnect and cap unused wires, a momentary contact may have blown a fuse or fuses, If 1 license light works and other bulb doesn't then likely bulb or socket, UNLESS the spliced or connected to that wire.
    I agree with shadylady, ask what they added, work they did or had done.
    Even at the best shops, it hard to find someone knowlegable in wiring/tracing.
    This sounds basic and shouldn't be too bad.
    Good Luck.
    13sldr's Avatar
    13sldr Posts: 237, Reputation: 17
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    #10

    Dec 15, 2008, 07:24 PM

    I would contact the last owner but I bought the car from a dealership.

    this8384 I have removed the wire that was to what I believe was a switch for the amp. I know for a fact I didn't run across any other circuits except for the one I was working with and all my problems had occurred before I pulled the wire. I meerly pulled the wire to keep a short from happing or any other thing happing to my car/battery.

    I have check a fuse, to what I believe was the gagelights and what not, but the fuse was fine.

    It could simply be that I may have a few burnt out light bulbs(except for the wants that won't work when they need to) but its kind of strang how everything shows up at once(or from what I can tell) and basically all of the problems are on the same side of the car with the exception of the licence plate bulbs and the problems on the interior of the car.
    Stratmando's Avatar
    Stratmando Posts: 11,188, Reputation: 508
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    #11

    Dec 16, 2008, 05:37 AM

    Sounds like maybe a ground problem?
    Live in South Florida?
    13sldr's Avatar
    13sldr Posts: 237, Reputation: 17
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    #12

    Dec 16, 2008, 04:49 PM

    No, I live in Arizona.

    So I took my car into the shop today. Called them up to see what was going on with my car. And they said it is a short some were which makes no sense at all. My last car a had a short in the anti-theft system and the battery died every 2 days. So if there is a short then how come my battery isn't dying granet my battery isn't being used when the vechical is turned off so no power shoud be running through the car. So I cold understand that much but then why does my left blinker work but not my running light if there is a short?

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