98 sc2 harness meltdown

[Buefordtjustice]

My harness melted and as soon as I connected to batt. There are 4 black wires that have square connection tabs. Two are for the body ground with larger hole in the tabs the other two coming from the firewall side of the harness have small holes in the tabs these connect to the red power wire coming from positive side of batt to the fuse box right???? If not then I am at fault and yall can snicker at me. Right now I am confused and not sure where the wire should have gone, some one tell me the deal please.

history
Sun roof leaked while on deployment to afghanistan. I pulled all the interior carpet seats as I had two inches of water standing in floorpan. Had cig lighter fuse bad dead battery replaced and cleeaned all that mess and started the car to find other issues.
Speedo quit working but gas and tach registered fine. service light was on Car was stuttering while driving and rough idle car would stall when stopping or putting into gear. It was getting bad gas mileage. Scanned pcm and replaced map sensor. No fault codes on obd2 scan replaced vss just to make sure had 5 volts on 2pin connector and uhjb was getting all the right power. The car ran better but could no longer get codes from scanner "err" all that displayed.

I pulled air cleaner, rats filled it full of acorns, pulled Battery to clean air filter, ects, grounds, tower pak. Put all together the same way (I think) and melted my harness. The wife will love this Christmass suprise

[rc1488]

picture's would help us out ALOT.

[Low Saturn]

Originally Posted by Buefordtjustice

There are 4 black wires that have square connection tabs. Two are for the body ground with larger hole in the tabs the other two coming from the firewall side of the harness have small holes in the tabs these connect to the red power wire coming from positive side of batt to the fuse box right????

What did you just say? That doesnt make sense. As for the red power wire, nothing should be connected to it. It should only be connected to the battery, fuse box and starter.

You might have to provide us with some pictures.

[Buefordtjustice]

Here we go the wires were connected to the pos lead from batt.

[Spaz]

I just looked at my 98 SL2. Looks like the wires you connected to the pos. cable are ground wires. On my SL2, there's wires that look like that bolted on top of the frame rail, where the shock tower meets the rail. I would have taken a pic of it but my aftermarket alarm is blocking it.

[Spaz]

Maybe this will help you out.

[Leafy]

Originally Posted by Buefordtjustice

Here we go the wires were connected to the pos lead from batt.

my car had those 2 leads connected to that terminal, but the previous owner cut them off the terminal rather that just loosening the nut and taking the ringer terminals off.

[Buefordtjustice]

ok this makes me feel so much better (not) it was all my fault. Those were grounds to the lower chasis as depicted in the diagram.

That said now what? Will the whole harness need replaced ? What needs done now? My dad will have a good laugh over this.

[Low Saturn]

Originally Posted by Buefordtjustice

ok this makes me feel so much better (not) it was all my fault. Those were grounds to the lower chasis as depicted in the diagram.

That said now what? Will the whole harness need replaced ? What needs done now? My dad will have a good laugh over this.

Thats a tough harness to replace. If you're lucky. Very lucky. You might of only fried those grounds a few inches back. Open that wire loom and see what else it burnt up.

[Buefordtjustice]

replaced the wiring harness and ecu/pcm. Turn key to start and all power is working but no crank. So with a salvage pcm in no crank what am I missing?

[Low Saturn]

Originally Posted by Buefordtjustice

replaced the wiring harness and ecu/pcm. Turn key to start and all power is working but no crank. So with a salvage pcm in no crank what am I missing?

Check all your fuses. Underhood and interior. And make sure you plugged everything in. Could be one in a hundred different things.

Plus, why did you swap the PCM? And since you did, hope you got one thats the correct year with the correct preprogramed options active.

[Buefordtjustice]

I just posted the cause while you were reading this post, lol.
I replaced the PCM with one that had all the same number on the decal same year of vehicle trans and engine. The pcm quit communication with my scanner and with some prior water damage from leaking sunroof I thought might be it. And since I was able to read codes before and all then after the car died nothing at all. I checked every fuse I can fine they are all fine. I tried swaping the big relays around with like kind and no change.
I thought if the pcm was bad worse case is if replaced I could limp it to dealer to program.