Sinnamingrrl

So,

I have a 2005 Honda Civic DX, I have an old Sirius Sattelite radio, a new Pioneer stereo, and I think the guy before me had an aftermarket alarm installed.

So, the wiring is pretty complicated in there. Yesterday, my windshield wipers wouldn't stop wiping, my horn stopped working, stereo just stopped, seatbelt indicator came on (for no reason), and then .. smoke came out of my cupholder area.

UGH, this could be a big problem, so I searched the forum on how to get the dash off to have a look, with no luck.. Even if I got there... not sure what I would do.

What Im really looking for here is how much it SHOULD generally cost to get it "re-wired"? I just don't want to get ripped off as I don't have "a guy" that I would normally go to in this town.

Thanks.

ezone

Welcome!

I guess I'll try to give some sort of answer, even though I don't have an easy answer.


Yikes.. Radio, alarm, strange wiper action, horn, seatbelt.....ALL these went apesh!t at the exact same time?

How new is that new radio?

I'd probably observe all electrical stuff (functions), make a list of everything I can find that have been affected. See if any have a common denominator.

Then maybe pick ONE factory item (horn seems simple enough to begin with) and start diagnosing that one item, see where it leads and see how other items might be interconnected (at first glance, they all shouldn't be directly connected)...
Then another item, and so forth.

There's a lot of possibilities here.... and this isn't a common issue with bone stock cars AFAIK.. It would seem that all non-original equipment and wiring should be closely scrutinized.

(If you don't need/use the aftermarket alarm, eliminate it and restore THAT wiring back to original factory correct condition.)

Without being able to see what lies under the area that was smoking (cupholders), and finding which (if any) individual wire(s) were affected or appear heat damaged, then tracing that particular circuit from end to end, all we can do is guess. I really don't even want to guess, because I can't see it first hand from here.


Nobody can answer this, and it probably doesn't even need what you are asking..

Real wiring work should be billed by "time and materials".


You really need someone smart enough and well versed in electrical to track all of this down and (hopefully) find the root cause.

It could be something simple, it could be something really oddball and difficult. You DO want the right person doing the work though.

Problem here is, electrical is like "The Final Frontier" for most auto mechanics. A whole lot of people in the trade get completely lost once a job goes beyond nuts and bolts.

------------------

Not sure is you want a dealership or an independent shop..
FWIW, I entered your location into this site http://autorepair.iatn.net/,

I saw one familiar name in the list....Ted Terra Auto Centre (clicky link). Ted is a regular poster on IATN forums, owns a shop up there. If you call or visit, tell them a fellow IATN member steered you their way.






There were actually a few other names I recognized in the list, but most seem to work for "other brand" dealerships.

HTH