Vehicle: 1983 Cadillac with no other markings to show model Alarm: Remote start and keyless entry Started: 9:00 AM yesterday It was a smooth install with no problems. I got everything hooked up with no problems. That is until the car decided to be a big meanie to me. I was programing the tach, when the car didn't stay on. Then it wouldn't turn back on. That's when I smelled smoke. There was a harness on top of the wheel well in the engine compartment that was smoking. We disconnected the battery (the customer had a quick disconnect installed due to a power drain somewhere). In the harness was several power wires for the vehicle, one with a butt connector that was melted slightly. Under the dash, the ignition 1 wire (pink) melted itself bare, and out of the taped up factory harness. This went up to the ignition switch, past my soldered on wire (which wasn't harmed at all), and up above the steering column cover. I checked all the fuses, and they were fine. But the vehicle wouldn't start. Today I spent the whole day trying to clean up this mess. I am so frustrated that this happened, and it wasn't my fault. It was a problem with the vehicle, and not my install. :bash: Oh, and it got worse. The melted wire went up in a harness, over a metal plate above the steering column. It is impossible to get to this harness, and I have to replace one of the wires. And what's worse is right in the middle of this "impossible to get to" harness was a factory splice where that one wire broke off into 4 other pink wires. I found one of those wires on the other side of the steering column and ran a new wire of my own, but it still wouldn't start. That's when I found out that there was another pink wire up there. And at the time I couldn't be sure if there was any more. If there were more (which it turned out there 4 total as mentioned earlier), and I didn't include them in my new wire then they wouldn't recieve power. I got lucky that the splice to multiple wires was located in a BARELY able to get to spot. By barely I mean that I had to use picks to reach it and manipulate the wires. It was too far in and too small for hands to get to that spot. But it turned out that there was another reason why the vehicle wouldn't start. instead of a fuse blowing, the ignition switch was the one to "blow". So I have to replace that. So now I have to work on that vehicle again tomorrow. Now I have to splice in the last three pink wires with my new ignition wire, mount the new ignition switch, put everything back together, and then finally program and finish my install. Seth, I respect your job much more now. :gunsmilie: Putting smoke back in factory wires isn't fun.
I bet seth makes ALOT more money than you do though Damn Money Grubbing Menchanics :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Just Joking This is why I hate working on other Peoples cars, Never Know what Mess your getting in to
Hehehe, have you ever seen the pics of the repair I had to make when a guy decided to install his own stereo? It worked great untill he turned on the lights. He hooked the light dimmer wire into the ground on the HU. When he turned on the lights it fried from the stereo, over the column, the printed circut of the dash, the junction block (from passenger compartment to engine compartmen) all the wire over the fender, to the front parking lights, down the side of the car to the rear parking lights (each side had a "circut board" style light assembly, and the guy tried to repair the one side). I had to rewire everything from the lights in the back to the front of the car, and to the junction block. I had to replace the internal harness as it was melted beyond repair. It only cost the man $2500
good lord, i'm certainly gonna be more careful the next time i hook an hu up, i usually give it no thought, cuz i get it right...but damn..
Funny thing was, it was a 91 Sentra (I did this job late last year) and the car wasn't even worth that much... By the way, the stereo was a "Rampage" tape deck, and he installed a prefab enclosure with the dual 8 inch subs, and "Rampage" amp all as 1 piece. I'll bet it was $100 system all told. I think Cort (Flawlesskid) got to see what the guy did actually... Didn't you stop up here that week Cort? **Edit: I forgot to mention, he fried the HU too **
Steven, I got to thinking... Did you look for the fusible links at the starter? I have seen them get burned up and a "mechanic" uses a butt connector and puts a regular wire in there. The plastic gets melted off the butt because of the exhaust heat at the starter, makes contact with the block, and starts to melt power wires as the fuselink at the starter is no longer a protection for the circut. It will fry an ign. sw. really quick!!!! Be sure to find the failure before another meltdown occurs. I had this thought on the way home and wanted you to look first!!! Solder in (and use shrink tubing) a 14 Ga link at the starter if you see what I mentioned above. SOS metals makes a beautiful link with the ring terminal already affixed to the link!!!
Why would someone pay $2500 for a repair on a Car no worth that much? Just buy a New Damn Car and sell that on off for parts or as a repairable that someone want to do the work themelves, after all, if it was YOUR car that repair would have cost you want $50 in materials IF THAT lol, Talk about markups B) :blink:
It actually only melted from the ignition switch up a little ways to a metal holder for the harness. It was that holder that it shorted out on, since the wire didn't melt past that. Anyway, I removed that section from the vehicle, and ran new 10 awg wire. Everything is soldered just to be sure. I finished it up and got the remote start working today. My boss charged him $90 extra for the problems, which really wasn't enough. But sometimes it costs you less to charge too little, rather than making the customer mad. BTW, it's funny you mention taking out the fusible link, and someone replacing it with a butt connector. Because on the wheel well under the hood, we saw smoke. It was coming from a loom that had several wires directly from the battery. Some of the wires had fusible links, while a couple had butt connectors. In fact, one of those butt connectors was the thing that was smoking. But don't worry, the ignition switch acted as the "fuse"...................finally. I guess I was just annoyed at the timing. It wasn't my fault, but I still had to fix it.
Sure it didn't cost Seth much in material, but it probably took him quite a while to do. He probably just kept track of how much time it took him, and charged him shop rates for it. I think that is more than fair.
I have one that happened at our shop a year or two ago that was less laybor intensive, but just as annoying. It actually happened to Delmar, who was our head installer at the time. A guy comes in with his brand new 2002 Chevy HD diesel truck. He wants us to put a full blown Prestige alarm system in with remote start. Delmar does the install with no problems, and gives the truck back to the customer. The next day the customer comes back agitated because his truck's starter keeps trying to engage when he is in neutral or park. Delmar disconnects the remote start portion of the alarm, and it seems to work fine. A few hours later, he comes back with the same problem, now getting more furious. Delmar completely take out the whole alarm system, and bring it back to stock. He comes back the next day again with the same problem. He's really not happy with us now. We are now really baffled. Delmar went over all the areas he touched, and tested everything. He then completely pulls out the fuse box and didn't find a thing wrong. While walking the fuse box back to the truck, he noticed a reflection of light inside one of the plug-ins. He noticed a single strand of fine wire that was hitting several posts in that plug. He noticed it was hitting the posts for the starter, and the neutral safty switch. It turned out to be the plug for the shifter. What happened was every time the customer applied power to this switch (by putting it in park or neutral), the starter would engage. To top this off, the strand was finer than the wire we were using. It must have come from the factory, and just happened to fall into place when we did the install.
I'll bet the car was worth $1500 tops. The parts were considerably more than that. The dash harness alone was $400 our cost, $600 retail. The Dash circut board was $125 our cost, $150 his. Also, the tail light board the guy tried to fix was ~$75 ours, $100 list. Tape, wire, conduit, zip ties, fuses, shrink tubing, solder, connectors, coolant, freon, O-rings (AC seals), etc., there was quite a bit involved in parts. Add to that the labor. We are at $75 per hour for rewireing labor, and I make 50% commision on labor. We are normally at $70 per, but for wireing, I am 1 of maybe 5 mechanics locally who would do this type of work so we get the money for it: Complete dash removal (and I mean complete, I even had to evacuate and recharge the AC system for evaporator core removal, and at the same time I retrofitted it from R12 to R134), compete disassembly of the grill, fender panel, and right side interior (4 door, so both front and rear door sills and pillars) front and rear seats, trunk molding, taillight bezels and all the wireing harness throughout the car being taken down, opened, checked, repaired and rewrapped, and PROPERLY reinstalled... It was alot of work, and the parts weren't cheap .
I'll bet the car was worth $1500 tops. The parts were considerably more than that. The dash harness alone was $400 our cost, $600 retail. The Dash circut board was $125 our cost, $150 his. Also, the tail light board the guy tried to fix was ~$75 ours, $100 list. Tape, wire, conduit, zip ties, fuses, shrink tubing, solder, connectors, coolant, freon, O-rings (AC seals), etc., there was quite a bit involved in parts. Add to that the labor. We are at $75 per hour for rewireing labor, and I make 50% commision on labor. We are normally at $70 per, but for wireing, I am 1 of maybe 5 mechanics locally who would do this type of work so we get the money for it: Complete dash removal (and I mean complete, I even had to evacuate and recharge the AC system for evaporator core removal, and at the same time I retrofitted it from R12 to R134), compete disassembly of the grill, fender panel, and right side interior (4 door, so both front and rear door sills and pillars) front and rear seats, trunk molding, taillight bezels and all the wireing harness throughout the car being taken down, opened, checked, repaired and rewrapped, and PROPERLY reinstalled... It was alot of work, and the parts weren't cheap . [/b][/quote] I think you were underpaid there....christ....
I don't know, figure that is roughly 20-24 hours worth of pay, and it took me 3 days. 3 days X 10 hours is 30 hours, plus I did other stuff durring that time as well, you know, brake jobs, water pumps... gravy to cover for the boredom. Plus, it gets really uncomfortable working under a dash, and twisted and bent up like you need to be for that kind of job, so I needed to get away every now and again before my old bones and joints locked up on me . I thought it was pretty fair
