Greetings! Yesterday, my 94 FD suddenly wouldn't start. I got all the electrics but not even a turn over. After checking all the fuses and relay, I identified the culprit... The clutch switch actuator had broken off the clutch pedal. So, I bypassed the clutch switch for now.

But, that's not why I'm making this thread. While I was under the dash checking fuses, I found a hot mess of wires and splices down there. Now, the lineage of the car goes like this: 1994 the car was leased to the first owner. 1996 my Dad bought the car fresh off the lease as the second owner. I got the car in 2009 when my Dad passed away. My Dad never did anything to the car besides typical maintenance and he took it to the Mazda dealer for that. I can't imagine that the first owner did any modifications to the car since it was under lease.

Now that you know the back story, my question is: What is this mess of wires under my dash and why is it so sloppy looking?

 

Looks like the typically poorly installed aftermarket alarm or remote lock controller.

 

That was my guess due to the relay diagram on the clear plastic box labeled lock and unlock. It must have been put on by the original lessee, because, I know my dad never had a remote key or fob for the car. I didn't know you could add on things to a lease car.

Anyway, it's just disgraceful; whoever installed it was very sloppy. In the pictures, you can see at least one wire that's just cut and dangling. I'm an aircraft electrician, so, this sort of thing just doesn't fly with me. (Pardon the pun.) I was just checking to see if this sort of thing is common on cars. You said it's a typical installation... Looks like I'm going to be doing all my own electrical work from here on out.

I guess I'll add this mess to my list of things to put right. Though, it's not causing any problems at the moment.

 

works on my car. =)