Electrical harness failure = HELP

[bcsmitty23]

My 04 V6 Limited with 53000 miles on it recently lost all "convenience" lighting... ALL interior lights (driver and passenger reading lights), midcar dome light, and rear cargo light, the running boards don't light up, and the clock resets to 1 o'clock every time i start it up. when it happened i thought, after spending $800 and 4 days in the shop to have my mechanic tell me the harness was burnt out it will be another $1500 to put a new harness in, that - hell - i can live without the overhead lights. well 6 months later it is driving me nuts.. i can't see a damn thing in my truck now that its daylight savings, my kids can't unbuckle their 4-point seat belts, and my wife laughs everytime she climbs in and says, oh look its only 1 o'clock.
my dream ride with low miles is totally bumming me out...

does anyone know how to get a harness cheap, and what it really costs to repair?!

i've tried sticking led lights all over the cabin, and they always fall down, they don't light up when the door opens, i don't have three of them set up... sounds ridiculous, but the lighting situation needs to be solved. One month after the thing is paid in full, no scratches, accidents... the damn lighting blows out and i can't find anyone else who's experienced the same problem.
HELP!

 

[drmorbius]

My 04 V6 Limited with 53000 miles on it recently lost all "convenience" lighting... ALL interior lights (driver and passenger reading lights), midcar dome light, and rear cargo light, the running boards don't light up, and the clock resets to 1 o'clock every time i start it up. when it happened i thought, after spending $800 and 4 days in the shop to have my mechanic tell me the harness was burnt out it will be another $1500 to put a new harness in, that - hell - i can live without the overhead lights. well 6 months later it is driving me nuts.. i can't see a damn thing in my truck now that its daylight savings, my kids can't unbuckle their 4-point seat belts, and my wife laughs everytime she climbs in and says, oh look its only 1 o'clock.
my dream ride with low miles is totally bumming me out...

does anyone know how to get a harness cheap, and what it really costs to repair?!

i've tried sticking led lights all over the cabin, and they always fall down, they don't light up when the door opens, i don't have three of them set up... sounds ridiculous, but the lighting situation needs to be solved. One month after the thing is paid in full, no scratches, accidents... the damn lighting blows out and i can't find anyone else who's experienced the same problem.
HELP!

Have you checked any fuses?

 

[djchris713]

check your dome light relay fuse, ive had this happen to me, after i changed my dome light bulb, i had blown the dome light relay fuse. the chime would not ring with the key in "ACC" position, the lights did not work, when i would start the truck, the fuel gauge & temp gauge would not instantly get to the actual reading, my clock would reset to 12:00, trip gauges zero, and when i shut the truck off, the tachometer would stick to the idling rpms after it turns off. so check the fuse, it might save you a lot of money

 

[teampwr2]

go to a salvage yard to get what you need you will save $$$$

 

[scottm]

after spending $800 and 4 days in the shop to have my mechanic tell me the harness was burnt out it will be another $1500 to put a new harness in

Did that "mechanic" say where he thought it was burnt? Don't go back there. The clock memory and interior lights should all be powered when the keyswitch is off, and they aren't, so there's a circuit out. A single wire or fuse. Maybe there's a short somewhere in that circuit. Start with the fuses, sometimes it's hard to see when one is blown. A fuse tester would be handy, or just pull them out with the fuse puller in the fuse box and look at each one. Check both fuse boxes. Yeah, I'm saying the same thing two others have already said, so get to it. And where are you? Somebody on here might be near you, or know a good car electrician there.

 

[CJ3Flyr]

Did that "mechanic" say where he thought it was burnt? Don't go back there. The clock memory and interior lights should all be powered when the keyswitch is off, and they aren't, so there's a circuit out. A single wire or fuse. Maybe there's a short somewhere in that circuit. Start with the fuses, sometimes it's hard to see when one is blown. A fuse tester would be handy, or just pull them out with the fuse puller in the fuse box and look at each one. Check both fuse boxes. Yeah, I'm saying the same thing two others have already said, so get to it. And where are you? Somebody on here might be near you, or know a good car electrician there.

:iagree: 100% with every word...

 

[747ifly]

Where are you located? It could be a burnt harness. But, I would have someone who is into car electronics look at it. Not just a mechanic. I would look at it for ya.

 

[bcsmitty23]

And where are you? Somebody on here might be near you, or know a good car electrician there.

Thanks everyone... i'd only seen an email alert for the first reply and thought it was a dead thread. My apologies for not jumping back in sooner!!
I assumed that my mechanic had run a fuse check, but with everyone's input pointing toward the same result... i think i need to recheck it. Assuming is a bad habit...
So clearly i need to dig deeper on this. I'm located in Winchester, MA - basically Boston. Which has been another issue of mine... no one around here is into this stuff (I'm from Maine, a fish out of water around the city) and i've had a heck of a time finding a good mechanic to talk to about lifts, tires... electrical.
If anyone's near by, I'd sure like to hear from you... or get a good referral. Thanks again everyone, I'm encouraged by the feedback.

 

[SSt4r]

Definately check the fuses. I'd start with the 7.5 amp acc fuse. I think I blew that 1 myself once. I'm a bit south of you in Acushnet.