Still can’t fine where the red wire connects. It’s actually a stand alone wire. Didn’t find the other end of the broken part. Found a blue wire that turns on the fog Kathy’s I think. And some broken wires and some unconnected wires. The red wire that’s dinged goes up into the dash. There’s a mother one that looks abused but not sure if it the same one. Also found some breaks that maybe for the radio. Have to pull it to see. Please tell me I don’t have to take the dash out to trace it or do.
Yeah. So it looks like I may have to undo the dash to trace it through. Could t find where it went on the fuse box side. But I did see a wire that didn’t look good under the dash. Not sure if someone replaced it or not at this point. I don’t even know what it does.
Leaving a ‘dead’ wire, meaning one that has no current, will not hurt anything. Just test it to see if it has current in any mode. I would pull your radio to see it or some of your other oddball wires end up there.
Removing the console is easy to do and would allow you access to some of the standard ways people pass wires around under and in the dashboard area.
That said, the ignition was replaced and the junction block is missing and the thick wires are spliced together so I’m guessing the wires to the ignition switch fried at one point.
The power distribution junction block has been a problem area for many over the years if folks have overloaded the circuits or if for some reason there is corrosion on the contacts which increases resistance. Resistance ends up creating heat which melts the plastic and creates more resistance etc etc. Yes your ignition switch may have been replaced but that distribution block issue is a different issue generally unrelated or related due to someone overloading a circuit downstream of the switch.
The X electrical system is from the end of one era of wiring design where they didn’t use a lot of relays. If you look at a Miata which started production as the X was ending production, there are many more relays to deal with the loads from the various systems. Adding relays to take the load off of singular points like the ignition switch is good practice: starter, lights, wipers, HVAC fan, power windows (yes I know there is a relay there but the load still goes through the ign switch as it is currently designed). Once your car is sorted out with many of the mods applied by others removed you can if you wish add some of these, or not if it is all working properly
On more modern cars the ignition switch is the trigger for many relays, the same with the majority of the switches in the car so very little current is run through the actual switches which preserves the switches and can provide more power to the actual accessory. Modern cars do this as well plus the system communicates back and forth amongst the components on a system referred to as CANBUS, not something to worry about on an X. My Honda Element uses CANBUS and dozens of relays, the electrical manual is an inch and a half thick with a second nearly 3” thick manual to supplement it for testing processes. Good thing its electrics are reliable…
Some one added a ground from the cam cover to the body. It’s wasn’t a great job, came undone so I removed it. I wonder if I should add one back in and do a better job. That was taken off years ago at mid west bayless request. There were a few crazy grounds added. I saw that some one grounded to the oil pan and that has since fallen off.
There should be one ground from the engine/transmission assembly to the body. That ground goes from the drivers side end of the transmission to the body. It should either be a bare braided copper wire object or some have replaced it with a heavy gauge insulated wire. In either case removing the wire and cleaning the contact points on the body and the transmission is a good thing to do to ensure a good electrical connection. When reinstalling using some dielectric grease is a good thing to do to protect it or a conductive grease (used in electrical panels) could be used.
Previous owners are confounding with what they did or some ham handed mechanic did to quickly ‘fix’ something and brutalized the system in the process.