wiring is poop, locks are poop, everything is poop

"MonkeePuzzle" (monkeypuzzle) 04/01/2019 at 12:10 • Filed to: RuqSaq

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!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , I have transferred all of the power components (windows/mirrors/locks) from my donor EX civic, into my little red hatch... and nothing worked!

Ok, so has to be a fuse, or a relay, or a loose connection, or a bad ground, or... unknown...

Let’s rule some things out!
I’ve been driving without a stereo for some months now because the doors had no connection to the car after swapping the under-dash harness, so even if I had a head unit there would be no speaker connection . So I installed the radio and tested now that the door wiring harnesses were connected to the dash wiring harness.

And hazah! the speakers work. So I’m confident that the connections of the wiring harness between the chassis and through the door is good. But to confirm I did a continuity test either side of the plugs and they were good.

That the speakers worked, which have their own grounding, I am now mostly leaning towards a missed or bad ground for the door harness being the root cause of my problems.

So I got under the dash and started poking around. My helper mostly just babbled, she didn’ t know nuthin’ bout wiring and was kind of no help at all!

oooookay, what’s this then? a random loose connector. And it has splicing from the prior alarm that I removed. Probably has something to do with door locks then?

so I got lost in a world of online how-tos, wiring diagrams, and fuse box images. But no help, and could find no home for it

ahuh! a how-to finally identified this connector AND... I dont need it, and it’s unrelated.

so I just undid everything under that side of the dash, took out the fuse box and really started double checking everything

no driver’s seat and fuse box on the floor is at least good anti-theft #CivicOwnershipIsConstantlyThinkingAboutTheft

Ok, I’m losing my mind. Perhaps lets go find that alarm wiring I removed and double check there isn’t a relay or something I missed.
In trying to find the alarm in my storage area I came to realise everything was a mess, so I pulled it all out and sorted and threw away some things and reorganised everything.

Ok ok ok, well I NEED my car for daily driving, so let’s make a quick tool just in case come monday I haven’t solved my power window issue and need to wind em down. So I found a cheap cigarette power outlet USB adapter in my box of things (I have many man boxes of many many thing) and threw away its inards

and replaced them with a straight wire a few feet long so I can just jam em into the open socket on my unfinished door and window goes up, and window goes down

I still think my wiring issue is a bad ground, I just can’t find it. But I also have a centre brake light that’s not working, and plans to redo my headliner, and I noticed that behind my plastics are dirty, and I need to lay some sound deadening in the doors might as well put it other places. So...

I distracted myself (or rather, I worked on other things while my mind thought about solutions to my wiring problem) by stripping out the interior.

I’ll be doing a custom headliner, laying in sound deadening, and installing a custom centre console (when some more ebay parts arrive ) before putting the interior back in. It’ll be loud, and hot in there until then , but at least I have a radio now :D

Ok, so last item on my desires for the week was to finally replace the trunk lock so that all 4 locks on my car match a single key so I can stop carrying two

and of COURSE the 95 EX coupe donor’s lock cylinder doesn’t match the 93 VX hatch’s

fine, no problem. I’ll just swap the pins over so the locks gets to stay with the car they are designed for, but the keys will work the other way around.

but. of COURSE it isn’t that simple. nothing this week has been :S
the design of the lock cylinders differs slightly internally. The end of the cylinder on one is open and allows the key to be inserted slightly deeper (lenny face)

Which means although the pins are correct, the key isn’t being aligned properly and thus not lining the pins up so the lock doesn’t turn

~ARROWED ~ DREMELED!

It’s not perfect, and now both locks require a little jiggling to work. But it’s fine. B oth cars have a single key, a nd it’s the trunk lock on both that’s janky. F or the most part that is opened using the lever next to the driver’s seat.

Summary: I’m bad at all things. But I soldiered on and just did other things instead.

Pupper tax

Nibby > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:20

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Cash Rewards > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:23

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This is such a cool project

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:23

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So actual question...what are you trying to do? What's the big end goal for this Civic? Genuinely curious.

jimz > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:25

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nitpick- speakers aren’t grounded at all; they’re powered by a floating (differential) amplifier output.  

lone_liberal > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:28

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I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only one replacing an ignition lock cylinder so that the key matched the doors this weekend! Of course GM used the same one for a loooooong time so getting the right one for my Camaro wasn’t an issue. The issue was me somehow breaking the turn signals when I was in there. I too am bad at things. 

MonkeePuzzle > HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute 04/01/2019 at 12:30

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this project is just a repeat to what I did with my 2000 civic.

I took this stock DX hatchback I was given as a wedding present

I bought a rolled SI

I stripped it

and transplanted EVERYTHING into the hatch

Because in the US we didnt get any EK hatches with good engines or power features

the plan is the same for the EG. I wanted a hatchback, but I want it with a better engine, and I want cruise control, and power windows, and power locks, and power mirrors, and so on.

In addition I will be adding a lot of sound deadening to remove the general tin can-iness of a 90s honda, and adding a bunch of custom features like an overhead console from a 90s jeep (which I did in the last civic also) and a centre console from a prelude. Then custom upholstery any so on.

basically the EG will be touched from end to end and be custom, personalized,  or new in every way.

MonkeePuzzle > jimz 04/01/2019 at 12:32

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ok, fine. the point remains the same :D

the speakers are working because they are just two wires from the head unit all the way to the speaker. And I suspect nothing else in the door is working because they are a series of power wires (through fuses and relays) that are eventually tied back to (I’m guessing) a single grounding point that I have failed to attach correctly. 

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:33

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Nice. You are doing the work of the gods here. I want to be able to do  something like this one day. No, i didn't just say "when I grow up, I wanna be just like you", or at least not directly

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:34

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Also, uh what happened to the Civic? How come you don't have it today?

MonkeePuzzle > HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute 04/01/2019 at 12:37

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I sold it because the project felt complete and I’d enjoyed it for 14 years.
If I had the funds I would have kept it and started the EG project, but I’m not a man of endless wealth.

As is usual with such things, within a few months of it being sold the buyer told me it was dragged from his driveway by a truck, loaded up at the end of his street, and was recovered fully stripped a week or so later. 

jimz > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:39

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FWIW, I don’t believe local grounding is done inside the door; the hinges wouldn’t be a reliable conductive path. the ground for door electrical is possibly behind the kick panel trim.

but yeah, I used to cringe at anything which had an aftermarket alarm/keyless entry/remote start installed.  ‘cos trying to diagnose anything involved became nothing more than a long stream of loud profanity towards those chucklefucks at Best Buy or Car Tunes. 

PartyPooper2012 > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:40

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If you think you are missing the ground, can’t you test that theory by providing ground to either switch or the motor... whichever side you think is missing the ground?

Wire to frame. Connect to ground cable on either switch or motor. See if the window windows. If not, could be something else. 

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 12:42

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I do not get involved with angry pixies and witchcraft!

MonkeePuzzle > PartyPooper2012 04/01/2019 at 12:43

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this is a valid test, and one I will likely attempt.

MonkeePuzzle > jimz 04/01/2019 at 12:45

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there is no grounding points insid e the door, I’m pretty confident both power and group are passed through the wiring loom int eh door jam, and the grounding is done just inside at the driver’s leg position. Which is where there is a mountain of wiring, the fuse box, and many grounds. Thus making the search hard, and requiring yoga positioning to see.

MonkeePuzzle > HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute 04/01/2019 at 12:46

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No, i didn’t just say “when I grow up, I wanna be just like you”, or at least not directly

I have checked, and the username MonkeePuzzleJunior has not been taken... just sayin’

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 13:53

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Still can’t stop thinking about the two part hatch. So cool. Honda loves us.

Future Heap Owner > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 14:05

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Man, you may not have finished much, but that is a seriously impressive weekend of work! Especially with the lock  cylinders; I like that MacGyverish solution.

MonkeePuzzle > Future Heap Owner 04/01/2019 at 14:19

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yeah. taking pictures of things and posting to social media is kind of the only way I realise I did achieve some things.

not pictured, cleane d the house, did the laundry, walked the dog etc etc etc :D

MonkeePuzzle > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 04/01/2019 at 14:20

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just the glass opening is really handy, makes for like a deep box to load things into.

but when you need to open both, the lower part of the hatch doesnt really come down far enough and then is kind of in the way. And I’m not confident about using it as a seat.

but it is unique, and I like its style

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > jimz 04/01/2019 at 14:20

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Super c lose.

Honda typically goes through the door harness , and because Honda,goes through the PGM-FI module . Because Honda.

So you actually need to go all the way to the passenger side kick panel, pull that, and check continuity from the PGM-FI ground pins all the way to the driver’s side door harness terminations. Because the fuse box doesn’t terminate direct anywhere. It all terminates to main harness or rear harness.

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > MonkeePuzzle 04/01/2019 at 14:40

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This'll be my avatar...that's supposed to be a hat with a propeller on top btw