I HATE hackjobs

[Old Boy Bergy]

Sorry, venting.

My E30... where to begin? In an effort to un-screw some wiring in the dash area in preps for a head-unit install, I decided to pull my entire dashboard. Wasn't too big a project, but I kept slowing down to take pictures of the terrible state of wiring in my dash... all because someone tried to stuff 10 lbs. of wiring into a 5 lb. dash. That's not all I found...

Problem: Intermittent A/C, and no air out of right-center vent.
Cause: Someone cut into the center ducting and mounted a small midrange speaker + tweeter.

Looks like I'll finally have to use DUCT tape for its intended purpose... to patch the ducting upon removal of the unused speaker.

Oh, yes, there's more, but I'll spare you all for now. Pics and more discussion tomorrow.

[Old Boy Bergy]

There was also something unique about the A/C controls. On the vent sliders currently installed, there are three unique points (compared to the new panel I have to install):
1. On the old sliders, there is a wire harness plugged in between the bottom two sliders - the newer one doesn't have this.
2. On the old slider, at the bottom slider, there is a flat panel that looks like the slider slides along it - the newer one doesn't have this.
3. The old HVAC has only 3 fan speeds - the new one has 4 speeds.

[Old Boy Bergy]

Driver's footwell:

Passenger footwell:

Center jumble:

Center speaker:

Old vent control:

New vent control:

[Old Boy Bergy]

It's one of those things that I was silently cursing (and sometimes not-so-silently) while I was pulling the panels and dash, yet at the same time I was laughing at how torqued it all is. There are wires spliced in all over the place, and I have to figure out what should and shouldn't be there.

An AUTOLOC alarm and starterkill are installed in there, and those have wires connecting/splicing to everything. They are 3M-taped to the bottom of the ABS computer, and add to the chaos under the driver's dash. They have to go.

There are some relay-looking modules (one blue, one black - see first photo) electrical-taped to the wire bundle of the ABS comp.

I'd have to guess by the look of things that there have probably been four or five different stereo setups (aftermarket and factory) at different times in that car. When I bought the car four years ago, there was a factory radio... so the wiring was converted away from factory at some point, then converted for another aftermarket HU, then ANOTHER aftermarket HU, then ANOTHER, then re-converted (NOT 'returned') to a factory-style wiring setup, leaving a tangle of wires.

My only prior experience working on wiring in a car was using auto-splicers to connect the city lights of ZKW Ellipsoids to the factory parking lights on my 99 M3. Uh, that didn't really prepare me for what I'm about to have to do.

[StereoInstaller1]

David, it is a shame you aren't closer. I have an entire stock harness you could replace that wire bomb with.

[schmidty]

Driver's footwell:


Center speaker:

that my friend, is pretty darn funny...

[Mtriple]

that my friend, is pretty darn funny...

That was the norm back in the mid 90's.

[Old Boy Bergy]

David, it is a shame you aren't closer. I have an entire stock harness you could replace that wire bomb with.

You wouldn't ship it to the east coast? Darn.

[NC325iC]

makes my wiring look good, and i dont clip off the wires im not using from harnesses for alarms or my smt6 (both are not very well organized but atleast my connections are good/soldered and heatshrinked)

[Old Boy Bergy]

makes my wiring look good, and i dont clip off the wires im not using from harnesses for alarms or my smt6 (both are not very well organized but atleast my connections are good/soldered and heatshrinked)

ACK! A Liverpool fan!?!?!?!

Sorry, had to!

[Old Boy Bergy]

Here's the big question:
The black and yellow wire at the center of the shot, to which the white/red wires are spliced... what is it for? It's a larger guage wire. The wires that were spliced in connect to the mystery relay also pictured in my hand.

Second pic is of the two mystery relays that seem to be related to the alarm/starter kill system (I say that because the vast majority of the wires connected to the relays connect to the alarm wiring)

[kylebes1]

offer Luke your left nut for his harness... you need that harness bad!

[DaveSmed]

Black and yellow are usually for the starter

[etxxz]

lol what *** would do that....atleast he had some idea of what he was doing otherwise your car would be a life thread. since your dash is already off. take all that crap out and put a new/used/junkyard harness and duct parts in i'm sure there's a lot of stuff missing.

good luck man

[StereoInstaller1]

David, let me see what I can do about figuring out just what you need. Shipping is such a bitch for me, I absolutely hate it.

Let me offer some suggestions here. First, do you own a top quality set of crimpers? I recommend Channel Lock, I actually like theirs better than SnapOn. Go find a small bag of 3M butt connectors in all 3 basic colors: red, blue, yellow.


Go through that entire harness and re-connect all the stock wires.

That relay in your hand is the starter kill. I can see from here that it is wired incorrectly, and then when the car is armed, there is about a 400mA draw on the battery.

My alarm installs NEVER look like that...even if I hate you and your car...never.