Electrical Madness

This should really be part 3 of a saga about replacing my window motor, but I can't help but talk about the problem I'm having now. I'll come back to parts 1 and 2 later.

So, early in 2008, the driver-side window motor in my Trans Am died. I endeavored to replace it myself... what an adventure! I replaced the motor only to find out that I've either reassembled it incorrectly or bent some key piece, because the window's basically jammed. But wait, it gets better...

This past weekend I took another look at the door to see if I could get the window working. The first step in the repair manual is to disconnect the battery, since you have to disconnect some wires while disassembling the door. I didn't do that this time, though, because I wanted to run the window motor with the door taken apart so that I could maybe see where it was jamming.

It was going great until some point the car went a little crazy. If I remember correctly, the seatbelt light on the dash was blinking really fast, and the chime was going off really quickly.

I put the door back together and put the key in the ignition. That's when things got sad for Chris. The interior lights came on, but the dash only lit up temporarily, and some random chimes went off. When I turned the ignition all the way on I got absolutely nothing--the starter wasn't turning and I didn't here that little clicking sound that you would still here if the starter were dead.

This is where panic set in. "Oh crap, I've destroyed my car. I must have fried every stinking circuit in the car. It's never going to run again." Well, take it easy Chris. This is why circuits have fuses. If I shorted something, a fuse should have blown and protected the circuits from damage.

I ran out of time to look into it. Next weekend, I'm planning on checking the fuses. Not sure which ones to look at, guess I'll just pull them all out one at a time and check them. I'll let you know what I find out!