broken harness plug for clock, need serious help Options

[chacha]

hey you guys, i have a problem, the heat of the sun melted the black tape that was wrapped around the white adapter in the clock's plug where the ac vent is located and my whole radio system died as well as the clock and the 12v smoke adapter, no more power. When i open the covers to check what was wrong, the wires that connects to the white adapter to the clock's pin was smoking and two of the wires were out...black tape as i have mentioned melted and created a tar like paste inside the adapter....it worries me because this is connected to the other harness inside the car's dash....what should i do? should i cut the wires and reattach it together or just take it to the toyota dealership and have them fix it when i know it will cost an arm and leg? im soo bummed out..ill try to post some pics so you guys know what i am talking about, but if you know what im referring too....please give me some insights on how to fix it...thanks!

[MaskedMan]

that looks pretty bad. Some of the wires on the connector are like completely... like not there haha. Ok i recomend going to a junk yard, or something and try to locate that same connector and cut it off with about... 6 inches of wire with it. And then just cut and splice that one onto your car. If you absolutely CANNOT find that connector anywhere at all, here is another option... Try to clean off that white piece. Then take a look to see if that white part is still good, beacuase you may be able to reuse that. And by good, i mean, check to see if it is not melted, and that the "squares" are still separeted from another. If its damaged at all, its better to get a new connector, becuase if the old one is damaged, then the wires may fall out and touch again. If the connector IS good, and you can't find the same connector...then reuse that connector and find any connector with FEMALE pins inside. The same ones that are in that connector. After you find a connector like that off another car, then you can "pick" the wires and pins out of that, and replace them with yours. This way you will have your wire length back so you can cut and splice it in. Make sure the female pins are the same size as yours so they will fit into your connector.

Well it's weird cuase the fuse SHOULD have blown, cuase thats what it's there for. But i guess it wasn't doing it's job, and this is the result. You should prolly check the fuse anyways. The fuse for this is right above the hood release lever, behind the little cover. it's the one that says "CIG RAD". The only reasons that i can think of that the fuse did not blow is either becuase a fuse with a higher of rating was put in that spot instead of whats supposed to be in there, OR there is a wire to wire short that just bypasses the fuse all together.

Sorry if i am not explaining good haha, im like all over the place sorry haha.

This post has been edited by MaskedMan: Jul 8, 2006 - 1:39 AM