Not doing it right...

A buddy (who is a very capable mechanic) has a Chevy 1500 PU.

Though he can fix about anything mechanical, he sucks at wiring. So, he hired the kid next door to install his new (to him) stereo.

All finished...works fine. Sort of.

The head unit has one of those fancy flip down faces. Dials flip down to reveal digital pushbuttons, which flip down to reveal the CD player.

He was driving down the street with the stereo off. Suddenly the unit powers up by itself, and opens the flip down doors. After a minute or so, it powers itself down.

Hmmm.

A few minutes later, same routine. Powers itself up, flips open the doors, then powers itself down.

Hmmm...

A few minutes later, it does it again. This time, he shuts it off before it can go through it's automated dance of death.

Next thing he knows, there is smoke billowing out of the dashboard. He grabs the head unit and tries to yank it out of the dash while driving down the street. Then the flames start shooting out of his air conditioning control switches. He gets the truck pulled over, snatches the radio and the air conditioning switches out of the dash, gets it extinguished, then realized the entire wiring harness under the dash is essentially melted together.

45 minutes and a roll and a half of electrical tape later, he's rolling down the street, albeit with wiring and tape hanging out all over the place from gaping holes in the dashboard.

He'd have made it home if it wasn't for the seat belt law...

He got pulled over for not wearing it. Unfortunately, he had bought the truck a few days earlier, and still didn't have the paperwork sorted out. Plus, he put the tags from another vehicle on it in the interim.

Here's a hint... Don't ever try to talk a cop into your side of the story if you have false tags on the car and wiring hanging out of the dash where the radio should be.

The cop was convinced the truck was stolen, impounded it, and sent my buddy walking home with a fist full of tickets, just to add insult to injury.

Getting the truck out of the impound will now cost him a couple hundred dollars.

Looks like the kid next door has some 'splainin' to do!

Anyway, with that as a benchmark, I guess I'm having a pretty good day!

Moral of the story:

Wire your own damn stereo. What could you possibly screw up worse than the kid next door?

I agree!

I'm pretty sure he's gonna screw up the kid next door pretty badly!!

Yea, that kids screwed in a non-Sandusky kind of way.

How much is he going to be out for repair work, I bet the deler wont warranty a crappy install job and if the 'kid' next door did it he probably can't afford to fix it and obviously isn't capable of fixing it or your friend wouldn't be in this mess.

Even I can puzzle out a wiring diagram and I'm mechanically and electrically reclined.

N Sperlo wrote: Yea, that kids screwed in a non-Sandusky kind of way.

You mean Sandusky, OH, correct? Can you guarantee that? I've been there. It was horrible.

Things neighbor kid messed up on: installing radio (maybe - who knows if the truck wiring wasn't already fubar? He'd only had it a few days.)

Things your buddy messed up on: seatbelt violation, driving unregistered vehicle and misuse of tags

The kid didn't have anything to do with the tickets and impound fees, at least as the story is told here.

This much I'll agree with - do it yourself or pay a pro. Well-intentioned friends and neighbors almost always cause chaos.

Yeah, the kid might owe him a new wiring harness but everything else is your buddy's fault.

All the extenuating stuff is his fault. Ohya driving on fake tags will get you a loss of licence here in MA so your friends problems may be just beginning.

Its not hard to install a radio. Buy a $10 plug in harness and its all color coded.

bludroptop wrote: The kid didn't have anything to do with the tickets and impound fees, at least as the story is told here.

That is absolutely correct.

Didn't mean to imply otherwise.

The title of this thread is a reference to my dumb friend not doing it right (on all counts), not the kid.

93gsxturbo wrote: Its not hard to install a radio. Buy a $10 plug in harness and its all color coded.

Actually, they did that.

I'm thinking either they pinched some wires re-installing, the radio had issues when they started, or the truck had issues when he bought it.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: How much is he going to be out for repair work, I bet the deler wont warranty a crappy install job and if the 'kid' next door did it he probably can't afford to fix it and obviously isn't capable of fixing it or your friend wouldn't be in this mess.

No warranty, no dealer. Used truck.

Here in Ohio, you're allowed to drive on your old plates for up to 30 days. That is, if you sold your old car. From the Ohio BMV page:

"When a new car is purchased, is it permissible to put the old car tags on before the transfer of title is made?"
"Yes, however, the new title must be presented to the deputy registrar within thirty days to complete the transfer of registration. [O.R.C. 4503.12 A (4)]."

Funny/sad that it's such a serious offense elsewhere.

I dont sympathize much with the truck owner, but i hate to think any of this is going to come back to the neighbor. Suppose he looks at the radio wiring he did and knows it's correct. Can he convince the truck owner of that at this point, especially if the truck owner cant figure out 11 color-coded wires?

Anyone who's a tech knows the line of thinking: Whatever the next thing that goes wrong after you touch the car is, it's your fault. You pretty much cant win, and you can lose big if you dont have some kind of insurance or lawyer between you and the person who doesnt know how to do their own work but always knows whose fault it is when something they dont even understand breaks.

Sounds like a E36 M3ty day for both people.