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Electrical scare

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Old 03-20-09, 07:39 AM
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Unhappy Electrical scare

I finally decided to re-install my factory pop up headlights on my roller yesterday. Once I had everything installed and the motors plugged into the main harness; I went to hook up the battery to put the headlights down. This is the first time I've ever hooked up the battery to the car, too.

When I hooked up the battery, there was a continuous "buzzing" sound? It was not loud, just continuous, never stopped unless I took one of the cables off the battery. I never saw any smoke or noticed any frayed wires or exposed wires off the main harness that were touching each other or grounding off the car.

In conclusion, because of that, I never did use the "electrical" ease of the motors on the headlights; I just manually put them down. Additionally, I don't really think the headlights had anything to do with this electrical sound/problem, either. It just worries me as I am not very knowledgeable on electronics on cars and it seems as though I could be in a mess.

Any help, guys?
Old 03-20-09, 07:47 AM
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what area did the noise seem to be coming from?
Old 03-20-09, 08:05 AM
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It seemed to be just overall in the engine bay somewhere or all around? I thought about that myself afterwards. Even right after hearing it twice (I tried it twice to see if it did it the second time I connected it) I couldn't really pinpoint a certain location.
Old 03-22-09, 12:53 PM
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I've seen cases where the wiring to the headlights becomes unsecured and gets pinched as they move up and down. Eventually it can rub though. If you are not blowing fuses and nothing is smoking, I would start unplugging electrical components one by one until the sound goes away. Also I would look at the wiring under the fender liners. It is very common to rub through those wires if the car is excessively lowered or the wrong size wheels/tires are installed.
Old 03-23-09, 08:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Rotary Experiment Seven
I've seen cases where the wiring to the headlights becomes unsecured and gets pinched as they move up and down. Eventually it can rub though. If you are not blowing fuses and nothing is smoking, I would start unplugging electrical components one by one until the sound goes away. Also I would look at the wiring under the fender liners. It is very common to rub through those wires if the car is excessively lowered or the wrong size wheels/tires are installed.
Ihor, thanks for the input.

I removed the passenger fender last night and looked over the wiring. Everything seems to be fine; all completely covered with the factory wire loom with no rub marks or abuse. I checked the fuses as well. To be honest, I can't tell if they're completely out, but I'm considering just changing them out to see if they blow with new ones installed. The harness I have now is a used engine bay harness from another FD as the original one in the car was destroyed from an engine fire from the previous owner.

Maybe I should just take Rich's advise and ship the car out to you guys.
Old 03-23-09, 08:14 AM
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Also; one would imagine the headlights would have been dropped back down automatically as the FD has a reset mode, allowing the headlights to go back down in the downward position once power is on the car. Mine do not move down; just remain upwards and the "buzzing" sound continues.

I think my next test will be to unplug the headlight motors and see if the sound continues. If not, at least I've narrowed down my problem to it being the headlight motors.
Old 03-23-09, 09:10 PM
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Originally Posted by mrb63083
Maybe I should just take Rich's advise and ship the car out to you guys.
Old 10-03-22, 12:22 AM
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Originally Posted by GoodfellaFD3S
you ever figure this out? I know it’s been awhile, I have this same problem on one of my cars.
Old 10-03-22, 11:25 AM
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I have also seen one of the horns do this. One that is messed up.
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