I HATE hackjobs

[DaveSmed]

C'mon guys, look at the upside.... What's copper scrap fetching these days??

Your car might pay for itself!

[Old Boy Bergy]

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.

Luke,

Thanks for the input. I have some decent crimpers. I was thinking solder and heatshrink, though I did buy a whole bunch of connectors/crimping sleeves from Radioshack.

I will have another question for you soon, based on the fader dial. I'd appreciate some help figuring out where the wires go... since some of them seem to go into the big relay-lookin' device in the left footwell. Again, more later on that.

[StereoInstaller1]

David, the big relay looking thing is the central lock system and the domelight control relay.

Those wires go there to lock/unlock the car, and to trigger the alarm.

So, get to removing the crap that hack did, just make it stock again.

Use quality crimps, NOT solder. BMW did not solder, you should not either.

Solder wicks inside the wire, making corrosion somewhere down the road.

What crimpers do you own?

[Old Boy Bergy]

David, the big relay looking thing is the central lock system and the domelight control relay.
Those wires go there to lock/unlock the car, and to trigger the alarm.
What crimpers do you own?

Luke,
Pictured is first the harness in my hand. You can see the VI/GY, BR/BK, GY/RD, and RD/GN wires in question. Only the RD/GN and BR/BK wires are connected to the radio harness (you can see how they were put 'back together').
In the second pic you see a big relay box - per the P/N, this is the OBC relay. Right under that is a connector set (you can only see part of it with the OBC relay in place), it almost seems like it's set into the firewall. The four wires in bold above all go into it. (in the pic they are just to the right of the red connector in the center)

Per the ETM:
RD/GN is the hot wire.
VI/GY is hot in ACCY or START (taped off at harness end)
GY/RD, not sure... says 'light switch details'???
BR/BK says something about Ground Distribution... ?

[Old Boy Bergy]

Any recs on crimping tools that I could get my hands on in the next 3-4 days? You suggested Channel Lock? I looked at the two tools I have, and they are both unlabeled multi-tools (stripping, cutting, crimping) - and both are a little bulky to really do tight-space crimping. I probably need a dedicated criping tool.

[abepark]

I have the same problem, but even worse when the hack decided to get rid of the alarm system they just clipped the wires so I have extra wires just lying around with electrical tape on the ends....if theres one thing I hate most its fucking idiots with wire cutters.

[Old Boy Bergy]

This all looks survivable. In the second pic of the first post in this thread, there is a bundle of wires hanging down in the pass. footwell, dangling next to the ECU. They were resting on top of the ECU (installed), but were taped off and connected to nothing on that side of the car. I traced those back across the dash, leading to the alarm unit. I cut them all to facilitate removal. I also noticed that they were Y-spliced (it was hard to see because the other section was so well wrapped in elec tape) and that the other ends went into the driver-side door. I took off the door panel (I have to R/R the door lock cylinder anyway) and traced the wires to an actuator motor connected to the door lock assy. I had a moment of panic before I saw the metal strapping that had been used to mount the actuator - so I figured "not factory" - and confirmed that it is part of the AutoLoc keyless entry. DELETE!

[Old Boy Bergy]

For anyone interested, the Channel-Lock crimping tool that Luke recommended is available for $18 at Amazon.com. If you have Amazon Prime, then you can get them in two-days for free.

Anyone else undertaking similar projects might benefit from good tools...

FYI

[AndrewBird]

Bit OT, but I got a pair of Channel-Lock crimpers after Luke's recommendation and I have to say, they are the BOMB. But so is all of Channel-Lock's tools. Just picked up a pair of these this weekend:

[Old Boy Bergy]

Bit OT, but I got a pair of Channel-Lock crimpers after Luke's recommendation and I have to say, they are the BOMB. But so is all of Channel-Lock's tools. Just picked up a pair of these this weekend:

Ah, snap-ring pliers. Interchangeable heads, I trust?

BTW, love the MGB GT. In addition to the E30, I have the newer 'version' of that car - the 00 BMW M Coupe! :D

[Ray Smoodiver]

Oh man, I feel your pain. My car is off road for 6 months and my wiring looks much the same!

Hang in there.

[brandon11130]

C'mon guys, look at the upside.... What's copper scrap fetching these days??

Your car might pay for itself!

i work at a detail shop for a dealership. Once a week they send all the super shitty cars going to auction down through our shop to get cleaned up. These cars are so beat our boss usually lets us take everything not fastened down out of them

One day i grab this 88 buick sedan. The car had no exhaust and was trashed. inside we could see wires popping out of every crack, carpet, headline, pillars, trim etc etc. we also noticed that the back seat didnt sit all the way back. There were 2 8" speakers in each door. 2 speakers drilled into the dash, a few tweeters sprinkled around. Finally when we moved the rear seat we saw 10 12" walmart generic subs all screwed to a piece of plywood drilled to the car. We were exceited to see what was in the trunk but it didnt open, and the bord had 100000 screws in it. so we punched out one of the subs in the back seet and looked in the back to see another box most likley with subs in it.


long story short i pulled all the wire and anything copper/brass out of it and got $60 the next day at the scrap yard.

[rbn14]

Mine is not quite as bad as yours but I am basically going through the same proccess. Random RCA's and cut wires. I will post up some pics at some point, maybe they will ease your pain a bit. I dont know what it is but when people get a pair of wire cutters or a can of spray paint in their hands LOOK OUT!!!

[Old Boy Bergy]

Mine is not quite as bad as yours but I am basically going through the same proccess. Random RCA's and cut wires. I will post up some pics at some point, maybe they will ease your pain a bit. I dont know what it is but when people get a pair of wire cutters or a can of spray paint in their hands LOOK OUT!!!

This is remarkably simple, just time consuming. I wouldn't call it 'painless' - because if my car doesn't start once I'm done, I'd have to rescind that comment.

After I get my stereo bits lined up today and tomorrow, I'll probably be putting things back together on Thursday. I should have the back seat area reassembled tonight if all goes well, but that depends on how much time it takes to hack the factory tweeters out of the 'sail' trim panels. The back seat will have to wait until that's done.

If you do post pics, please start another thread so no one gets confused!

[Old Boy Bergy]

Bloody hackers!

OK, add tin-snips to the list of tools idiots should not have access to.

Pictured is my rear deck, under the decorative shelf.

You see two 6" openings in the middle that were cut in for speaker installation. Whoever cut them did an okay job.

What I don't understand is why someone cut an irregular opening under the premium speaker location on the driver's side, but did NOTHING to the passenger side! If you are going to cut, know what you are doing, because there's no going back!!!!!!!