Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

My sunroof has a short or something going on. I took the guage cluster out to remove the air bag bulb since it has been lit ever since I added the PFC. So after doing that and reinstalling the cluster. I put the key in and turn the accessories on and first weird thing was the car made a series of five beeps in sequence of five. I have never heard those before and I assume they are some sort of warning buzzer but for what I have no clue. So then i check all the accessories to make sure they work. Everything checked out OK minus the sunroof. So I checked the fuse and sure enough it was blown. I replaced the blown 15amp with a 30amp. Go to the sunroof switch and still nothing. I checked the fuse again and the 30amp was now blown too. At this point it was getting late and I just wanted to close the sunroof and mess with it tomorrow so I splice a wire in the fuse panel there just to close the roof. Well now the roof switch will open the sunroof further but does nothing when i try to close it. Not even the noise of the gears so I assume that it is getting no voltage. Why will the switch work to open but not to close? Anyway then the wires got hot melted the coating and stated shorting out and sparking so I tool the splice line out of the fuse panel. I did notice that the other lights would dim when I would try to use the sunroof switch to close. So I am confused as to what I did. I have removed my gauge cluser numerous times and never ran into this. I assume that something is groundingout somewhere but why now? What do the five beeps mean? Anyone have any encounters with this before and or any advice?

Sorry for the novel.
Dave

WaLieN

Well, I'll throw in my 2 cents. If your sunroof doesn't work, then there is a hidden allen bolt that you can use to manually close the roof. I don't know if splicing the wires was the best idea in the world.

jimlab

Lesson #1: Never, EVER, replace a smaller fuse with a larger one if the first fuse is blown. If it's blown, it's blown for a reason. Resolve the problem, then replace the fuse with one of the same rating.

Lesson #2: If you disregard lesson #1 and the larger fuse blows, never, EVER, replace the fuse with a piece of wire. See #1.

If fuses are blowing immediately after replacing them (especially a larger fuse), you're dealing with a dead short somewhere in the wiring system. The fuses are intended to help protect the wiring harness from damage in exactly this scenario. By eliminating the fuse and jumping the circuit with a wire, you're subjecting the harness to a dead short without any other option than to melt or burn. I would not be a bit surprised if you've caused damage in other locations in addition to the original problem.

I can't help you with the beeping without digging out my electrical troubleshooting manual, but obviously something you did while working on the car caused the problem if it did not exist previously. Your first course of action should have been to go over your work and see if you could locate the problem. Removing the SRS bulb would not have caused this by itself.

If the lights dimmed while you were operating the sunroof switch, it means that it was drawing a significant amount of current. The motor may be damaged or there may have been an obstruction that would not allow it to move. This could have caused the fuse to blow.

As WaLieN said, there is a "cap" on the headliner that covers an Allen-type socket for manually closing the roof. Unfortunately, it sounds like it's far too late to use it.

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

Why would it be far to late to use it the allen head. If its mechanical then it will close the sunroof regaurdless if there is a short or not.
Thanks for the allen screw tip. I had presumed that last night but when I removed the small cap from the headliner it was dark and the allen key must be very small because it did not apear to be much more than a bolt. Flash light would have been nice. The first thing I DID do Jim was to pull the cluster back off and look for evidence of what the **** I did wrong. All the connecotrs wree in place. I did not see any loose grounds or broken/damaged wires. I was not thinking clearly obviously when i jumped the wires. I was in a rush to get the roof closed and I though that if i could close the circuit long enough to close the window I would be home free till i could have a better look when the sun came out. Now I learn the hardway. Any idea how much damage was possibly caused by me jumping the wires? I will pull the headliner out and have a look see. I hope that it is isolated to that area.

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

Well i pulled the headliner off and the wires from the switch are fried and melted. There is a spot where it melted the wire under the Apillar. So I assume that it is like that at least in a few places on down to the fuse block. Looks like i will be replacing those wires and possibly a few more all the way. Its raining and my car is of coarse in the driveway and not in my shop so i am stopped for now. Best I can tell though is that somehow when putting either the cluster or the dash side cover/vent panel back in I managed to pinch and ground out the wires. Weird man.

AgentSpeed

Hopefully that is all the damage. I had a friend that did the same thing on his old Jeep. He fucked the whole fuse block and still has electrical gremlins to this day.

jimlab

True, but it would have been ideal to use that option if you knew you had a problem with the sunroof wiring instead of trying to run the motor back and forth with the switch.

Good to hear, that wasn't clear from your description.

Hopefully the sunroof motor (I believe there's only one, but it's been awhile since I've looked at my shop manual) is OK. The melted wiring may only be a "symptom" of the actual problem, or the motor may have been damaged as well.

My policy with sunroofs is that they're an unfortunate addition, especially when motorized, and the best possible thing you can do with them is to just leave them closed.

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

Agreed!!

I would assume that if the motor had worn out. It would have not been able to open the window but not be able to close it. It could be something in the gears. I do not believe that would cause the short in the wiring though. I am still leanig towards the idea that somewhere, somehow I pinched a wire and created a direct ground. My only hope at this point is that the damage I caused is limited to the wiring for the sun roof switch. I do not want to pull the dash off again. Its not an enjoyable job.

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

I have better luck than that usually. God likes me.