V1 Dan's #495 build (2006 SS/SC)

[mike_sno]

I haven't touched the car in over a month. Got really fed up with it and decided we needed some time apart. I made a huge mistake trying to tackle this wiring harness myself. I don't have the patience for it and should have paid DF to do it.

Never build a Goblin, but did the harness work. A nightmare is a compliment. Glad you got it worked out.

 

[TheAnesthetist]

Test fitting the headlights. They look nice and clear the hood fine. Unfortunately they're a flood pattern so I'm going to be blinding everyone on the road. It will be rare that this car is driven in the dark, so I'm not going to stress about it.

 

[Rttoys]

I have mine pointed mostly towards the ground. With the wide spectrum, you can still see enough and not blind others.

 

[TheAnesthetist]

Well gents, I've reached the end of my rope here. I am inexplicably back to a no-start situation and I feel like every time I fix one electrical gremlin, it creates two more. My confidence in my electrical abilities was completely unfounded and my build has not made any progress in weeks. It seems silly to continue assembly if the engine won't run.

My plan is to source another wiring harness and send it to DF. Not sure if that means hunting down another donor or maybe someone just happens to have a spare harness for a 2006 SS sitting on a shelf somewhere.

 

[Robinjo]

My plan is to source another wiring harness and send it to DF. Not sure if that means hunting down another donor or maybe someone just happens to have a spare harness for a 2006 SS sitting on a shelf somewhere.

PM me your email address and I'll send you the connector chart I made recently. You could check every connector to the other end before giving up on this one. It'll make more sense once you see the excel file.
This would be something you work on while looking for a 'new' harness.

 

[Gtstorey]

Did you ever get your High Speed to read 60ohms resistance? If you are still getting 120 ohms resistance (per post 170), you only have one of the resistors connected on the high speed.

 

[TheAnesthetist]

Did you ever get your High Speed to read 60ohms resistance? If you are still getting 120 ohms resistance (per post 170), you only have one of the resistors connected on the high speed.

I tracked down and verified all of the data wires. Reinstalled the harness and it was reading 60 ohms. Now 2 weeks later it says 115 again. I haven't changed anything.

Edit. Just checked it again and got this

 

[TheAnesthetist]

Also, the security light stays on now. Tried to do the relearn process but the light never goes out.

 

[Gtstorey]

So you have intermittent loose connections. It really needs gone over and every connection tightened up, or at least as many as you can. Hard to do much with bcm connectors, but you can wiggle them to try and determine which is loose,

 

[TheAnesthetist]

Good news and bad news and then good news again.

Good news. Fired the engine for the first time last night. It cranked right up but I didn't put much fuel in the tank so I believe that's why it wouldn't stay running.

Bad news. Shortly after this video ended, there was a large electrical arc near the main ground lug near the battery. I wasn't looking directly at it so I can't be sure exactly what arced. The wiring harness and BCM was in the area. Now the electrical system is completely dead. No voltage anywhere.

Good news. I was able to secure another pile of excellent donor parts from @BigWaveDave, including an unmolested LSJ wiring harness. This one will go to the Sensei Lonnie for the wiring harness service. I'm tired of spending hours trying to diagnose these electrical gremlins.

That being said, I have a question for the guys who have removed and reinstalled harnesses. Would I be better off waiting for the new harness to return before continuing assembly? Is it a pain trying to route all the connectors around the subrame, suspension, etc.? I know it'll take a while to get the harness back and I don't want to stop building in the meantime.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Big arc near the battery - check the 50 amp in-line fuse from the battery positive back to the fusebox. Or was the battery not tied down and it walked over in the tray for the positive terminal to contact the frame?

 

[TheAnesthetist]

First thing I checked was the big red fuse. It's still good. In fact, I checked every fuse and they're all fine. The battery is not tied down but I don't see how the terminal could contact frame. There's no voltage to the charging post on the fusebox. I'm scratching my head on this one.

 

[Traé]

Good news and bad news and then good news again.

Good news. Fired the engine for the first time last night. It cranked right up but I didn't put much fuel in the tank so I believe that's why it wouldn't stay running.

Bad news. Shortly after this video ended, there was a large electrical arc near the main ground lug near the battery. I wasn't looking directly at it so I can't be sure exactly what arced. The wiring harness and BCM was in the area. Now the electrical system is completely dead. No voltage anywhere.

Good news. I was able to secure another pile of excellent donor parts from @BigWaveDave, including an unmolested LSJ wiring harness. This one will go to the Sensei Lonnie for the wiring harness service. I'm tired of spending hours trying to diagnose these electrical gremlins.

That being said, I have a question for the guys who have removed and reinstalled harnesses. Would I be better off waiting for the new harness to return before continuing assembly? Is it a pain trying to route all the connectors around the subrame, suspension, etc.? I know it'll take a while to get the harness back and I don't want to stop building in the meantime.

CONGRATS on the start! I almost cried when mine started for the first time
I haven’t removed my harness with all of that installed but It might be tight getting the harness out from the back of the car with the subframe and fuel tank installed. I had the harness laid in and got the engine to crank while it was sitting on a furniture dolly. However hard and frustrating it is to remove it will probably be about twice as hard and frustrating to get it back in with all of that stuff in the way.

 

[Traé]

Big arc near the battery - check the 50 amp in-line fuse from the battery positive back to the fusebox. Or was the battery not tied down and it walked over in the tray for the positive terminal to contact the frame?

I’m no electrical expert by any means but could the miscellaneous wires for the headlights and HX cause an arc if they are too close?

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Only if they were bare wires. Insulated wires take a lot more than 12V to break down the normal insulation.

If the big fuse is good and the big gauge wire from the battery to the fusebox is intact, does the battery have 12V across its terminals? I've seen batteries short out, but the case will usually crack too.

 

[TheAnesthetist]

Only if they were bare wires. Insulated wires take a lot more than 12V to break down the normal insulation.

If the big fuse is good and the big gauge wire from the battery to the fusebox is intact, does the battery have 12V across its terminals? I've seen batteries short out, but the case will usually crack too.

The battery does still show 12V across the terminals. I guess it's time to invest in a real battery meter. The arc was pretty bright and made a loud snap, but is it possible that it completely discharged the battery? Seems improbable

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Probably good you were not looking directly at it. Could have discharged the battery, does it read 12V or something higher like 13.2Vish? A healthy battery will read just over 13V. You could try charging the battery - just be careful hooking up to the charger, positive first then negative. Wear safety glasses in case there is something wrong with the battery.

We're you able to check the big battery cable end-to-end? Should read less than about 2-3 ohms with a meter. The only other thing I can think of, was a tool left on top of the battery? I've been guilty of doing that with similar consequences.

 

[RGSkid70]

If you've got 12v at the battery, and nothing at the positive post at the fuze box, there is some kind of break in the main positive cable There should be some obvious burn marks somewhere along that cable. I'm really surprised that the fuse is still good.

 

[Ross]

The rear fuse box post gets power from the starter motor, which goes straight to the battery. Do you have 12V+ at the starter motor?
Or did you cook the ground lead from the battery to the frame?

 

[Gtstorey]

My first bet is a bad ground at the battery to frame connection.
Simple check would be to use voltmeter from ground connection to battery negative with ignition switch on. Voltage should be almost zero. It will probably even work with switch off on just the parasite drain but that might not be enough amperage to overload a bad ground connection.