I need some help ,
I have a 2005 Chevy Express van that fried "some" of the wiring under the dash !
HOW , well somehow the stock accessory (lighter) socket grounded out and started melting the wiring , no idea why the fuse in the fuse box did not blow .....
So now I have about 10 wires that got close enough to the hot accessory wire that it burned some of the plastic insulation ,
I pulled off the plastic dash cover but it does not get me a better view of where the wires go and if there is more damage that I cannot see yet !
So to the Techs out there , have you fixed the wiring in an express van ? Does it come in sections ? How does the wire sections go thru the dash ? where else do I need to look for damage ?
Its my work van and tow van , at least it happened when I was home so its parked out in front ,
I disconnected the battery and do not plan on hooking it up again until I fix it....
Thanks for your help , I need it !
When you hook the battery back up, connecting a headlight in series will give you a visual indication of a short and not heat anything up if it is shorted.
The bulb will pass enough juice to run basics in initial testing.
I have an endoscope that I never used , its on the charger now , then I need to figure out the software for my phone ,
the cable is probably long enough , IF i can get it to work !
A little update , I dug out the endoscope I bought on Amazon last year and figured how to hook it up on my iPad ,
it did not really show me much , the bundle of wires goes behind the radio area and is wrapped in black tape but does not look fried .....
But the wires going over to the blower seem fine ......
So if I take the radio out do I lose the "anti theft" radio code ? its just a stock GM AM-FM radio!
These issues can become involved, but with time and work this can be repaired.
First thing is to get the dash apart and try to identify the damaged wires, this will be a struggle as the damage may not be limited just to the burnt wires.
Now that you have a list of know damaged wires I would cut out what you can and run new wire.
When running new wires keep an eye out for other damaged wires. Check the grounds and the entire fuse block inside and out.
Paul B
