So I couldn't find a damaged wire anywhere. However, I noticed that my carpet was wet by the driver's door (I need hinge pins). I removed the driver's seat and noticed that the harness ran under the carpet and was soaked. I hooked the battery back up and wiggled the wire and the back hatch glass started clicking and then smoke. I have never pulled a negative battery terminal so fast.



This...

I guess I will be spending some time with a hair dryer and doing some wiring repair tomorrow.

 

Awesome! You found it. Not awesome it's that. When I repaired mine I staggered the connections so it wouldn't ball up.

 

There it is, nice work. Let us know if anything remains after you fix those wires.

George

 

It was supposed to rain all weekend. It was beautiful today, hopefully tomorrow is more of the same.

 

The weather did not cooperate today. I did isolate the good wires from the damaged ones and cut out that bad sections. I also cleaned the floor and painted it with 2 coats of hammer finish. That is about all the time I had between rain storms. There are 2 orange wires that melted apart, and I have no idea what the difference between the 2 is. Anyway, pictures.

 

That looks brutal
Good thing is You have traced down the problem. Isolate the orange ones and report what is not working.

 

It isn't just the orange ones. There are 2 black with white lines, 2 orange ones, 2 light green ones, and 2 light blue ones. Also, I am surprised these didn't get burnt worse than this. Some of these wires are so thin that I can't keep the smallest butt connectors on them. I might have to solder them instead.



I got the big orange wire connected (it looks like it is about 12 gauge) and then Nature was all like "you aren't wet enough". I don't know why they look different, but they are the same color orange. The middle is yellow.

 

A mental shortcut. I mean to rework the insulation on the ones You can and isolate the ones that melted apart and check what isn't working. Then, we can lookup the wirings of a not-functioning devices and identify missing connections by a wire color.

P.S. I'd personally go for the shrinking tubes & soldering iron. They might be flatter than connectors.

 

I may go back and try soldering later. At this point i nust want to make sure everything works first.

 

Once you get all your connections verified, solder and adhesive shrink wrap is the way to go.

George