im lost again.

Supercharged90

Registered User
i was detailing my car today, and i saw that i got a washer fluid tank in the past so i figured id put it on, well i get it all hooked up, and i see that my car is dinging without the key in the ignition, and smoke is coming out from the top of the vmm, i took the vmm out, didnt see anything melted/shorted. and didnt smell anything... but now my shoulder belts wont go back, my tack doesnt work, my speedo doesnt work, my antilock light went out, and my fuel light on the vmm is stayin on with a half tank.

anyone out there that can help me?
 
Check for pennies jammed in your fuse box. (or at least too high of a fuse where you should have a 15)
 
Back up and try to figure out what went wrong. I have done alot of electrical work on these cars and can tell you the circuit you talking about is only hot when the key is turned to the on position. When did you see smoke? after you tuned the key on or before? Washer bottle has two hookups. The pump and the low fluid level indicator. Only a piched wire or short could have caused this. One thing I will tell you though is the fuse box on these cars are (cheap) at best and have seen perfect fuses make no contact in the box due to over heating circuits. Dont know what year your car is but you need to find the fuse and make sure you have power to it and the terminals anre not burned. Other than that look under the driver side carpet for wire that have rusted or corroded. Hope you get it figured out. Mark
 
Back up and try to figure out what went wrong. I have done alot of electrical work on these cars and can tell you the circuit you talking about is only hot when the key is turned to the on position. When did you see smoke? after you tuned the key on or before? Washer bottle has two hookups. The pump and the low fluid level indicator. Only a piched wire or short could have caused this. One thing I will tell you though is the fuse box on these cars are (cheap) at best and have seen perfect fuses make no contact in the box due to over heating circuits. Dont know what year your car is but you need to find the fuse and make sure you have power to it and the terminals anre not burned. Other than that look under the driver side carpet for wire that have rusted or corroded. Hope you get it figured out. Mark

checked all the fuses, everything seems to be hooked up fine, now i did smell like burnt wire from the under hood fuze box.
 
What I do is check to see if I have proper voltage from both sides of the fuse (KEY ON) with a probe from a voltage tester. You can also use a 12v light bulb. I have seen smoke come from the fuse box and a multifuntion switch (Turn signal switch).
 
im really lost about this, im not a car electrician. i just wish this thing would finally be fixed for good. everythime i fix it something else goes wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Check your ignition switch.

Good point here. These can go bad and only power half of the car. Tell tail sighn of bad switch is the top is poped up or loose from the 4 hold downs. You can even zip tie the dam thing back together. I would still own a SC if I could afford one right now. They were ahead of their time but with time things go bad. Hang in there.
 
I had a VMM fry out on me.....:mad:

Smoke came out from around the edges on the face plate.....:eek:

I pulled over and yanked the unit out....

It was so hot, the circuit board melted the carpet.....:mad:
 
IF I read this right...

You installed a new/used washer fluid resevoir AND THEN the smoke happened from the VMM?

IF that is what happened...
1. you have a pinched wire(positive hitting ground wire or body)
2. ran a mounting screw through one of the wires(shorted out, Positive just got connected straight to ground)
3. Dirty BAD wiring harness connections at the resevoir(shorted out)
4. BAD fluid pump(shorted out)
5. BAD fluid level sending unit(shorted out)

Really guys... the car was fine and running with no issues until he changed out the resevoir... SOMETHING is wrong with or at the resevoir.
Now he may have to go hunt down NEW problems caused by the resevoir short such as VMM, fuse box, wiring harness, ignition switch and whatever else that particular short may have reaked havoc on!

By the way... THIS is saying the same thing SCBird1 said in his first post... go back and look at what you worked on or replaced FIRST.
 
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Really guys... the car was fine and running with no issues until he changed out the resevoir... SOMETHING is wrong with or at the resevoir.
Now he may have to go hunt down NEW problems caused by the resevoir short such as VMM, fuse box, wiring harness, ignition switch and whatever else that particular short may have reaked havoc on!


Hey, coincidences are a Btch. With your train of thought it has to be that resovior.
Now 2 months ago i drained my coolant, and changed my upper and lower radiator hoses. The car sat for maybe 3 days prior to this. Went to start the car and i got nothing. Long story short, The fuel pump went bad, in my driveway, after not being used for 3 days.

I think its a big coincidence. Its happened to me a few times, lol.... Just the "AUTOGODS" playin games on us:D i can laugh about it now, but boy was i furious when it happened
 
Hey, coincidences are a Btch. With your train of thought it has to be that resovior.
Now 2 months ago i drained my coolant, and changed my upper and lower radiator hoses. The car sat for maybe 3 days prior to this. Went to start the car and i got nothing. Long story short, The fuel pump went bad, in my driveway, after not being used for 3 days.

I think its a big coincidence. Its happened to me a few times, lol.... Just the "AUTOGODS" playin games on us:D i can laugh about it now, but boy was i furious when it happened

THAT would have driven me freaking crazy!!!
I would have spent ALOT of time trying to find WHAT did I hit, disconnect or short out when I did the hoses and coolant! WOW the fuel pump just went out after sitting for 3 days? No noise from it? Nothing electrical happened?
The Coincidence AutoGods really BITE!!

As a mechanic I had a customer come back in the shop with her car and tell me I MESSED UP HER CAR! I rotated the tires, greased the front end, and changed the oil & filter. she drove it back in overheating 2 days later. her A/C compressor froze up and burned the serpentine belt off the car! It happened to be the first day of nice weather... she was running her A/C full blast. BUT SHE SWEARS IT WAS OUR FAULT! lol try explaining that to a non car literate woman who is pissed off!
 
Swear to god dude. I have had many many fuel pumps burn out on me so i am very familiar with the symtoms. checked fuses/relays and installed fuel pressure gauge. and found no pressure or fuel pump prime noise. replaced it with a nice 255LPH and was on my way. Totally weird

But yeah i hear ya on the crazy people blaming mechanics for 1 thing that has nothing to do with the other.

But in my opinion, i dont think the washer tank had anything to do with it.

Good luck tacing the bug. I HATE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!!
 
please dont whore up my thread i have a serious problem and unless you have something that pertains to my issue a bad fuel pump isnt gonna help me
 
pull teh washer res out and see if you pinched anything..Otherwise it can literally be anything. You can also unbolt fuse box under hood and check for wire issues below being you said you smealt something there
 
When detailing, did you spray water anywhere under the hood? Or how about in the interior?

There are two known wiring trouble spots on these cars. One is the underhood light and the other is a large splice in the wire channel under the carpet to the left of the driver's seat. It might be worth checking either of those. I am not sure what else shares those circuits, though.
 
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