Okay first i couldn't get my S5 vert started (never has started but once the whole time i've had it), i finally started checking wires briefly. Pulled up the carpet to check the ecu and found one of the problems.....the wires going into the ecu and the ecu itself was water damaged. Replaced the ecu and briefly fixed one of the wires to atleast see if it would start, but it wouldn't. so i took the dash out and i'm seeing some pretty strange wiring (stereo wiring messed up, wiring by stereo wiring is burnt, some wires with no clips) need some help deciding what things plug into where and i took some random pics so you guys can see if something doesn't look right.

messed up dashboard wiring:







what plugs into this:


and this:


random wiring:

 

YIKES!! Why is there rust so high on the car like there is around the steering column? What do you know about the history of the car before you bought it?

If I had to guess, it looks like the car was in a flood which means that the normal second gen electrical gremlins have just became second gen electrical monsters.

B

 

Okay, first off pull everything out of the car. Clearly mark and label and maybe even use a video camera.
FIX THAT RUST, even if you get the car started it won't be running for to long. You should cut out the rockerpanels and weld in new ones, for the other harder to replace things use por 15 as long as the rust isn't to bad.

Then lay your wiring out and replace most of the wires and connectors. If worse comes to worse then purchase all the wiring harness's that you need from some guy with a parts car.

Then either wire new ones up or you can try your luck with the parts car harness.

you can get good connectors from summit racing, they may not look the same but they will do the job.

 

Someone before me never spent the time to get the seal on the top adjusted. When i got the car there was a puddle of water in each corner of the car, its been in the garage every since then (almost 2 years).

 

thanks for the advice..... none of the rust is as bad as everyone thinks though, just some surface rust for everything except that rockerpanel.

I have a question....how do having por 15 on parts that are used as grounds work?

you got a link for summit racing?

anymore people with advice chime in

 

oh after doing some research......the rockerpanels on this car are fine.....its part of the floor that the ecu mounts to that is rusted pretty bad.....also the exterior paint job on the car looks great except for the front bumper