Where you guys suggested: the rubber grommet near the clutch master cylinder. Maybe I messed up the wiring when I pushed the screwdriver through???

 

that is highly likely that you did that, but lets hope you did not. what i would do is unhook ALL your wiring and make sure everything in the car works. check ALL fuses if you have not already, all of them. if you did hook the wires up wrong, this is where you would know.

then if you did unhook everything and it still does the same thing, then you need to goto that rubber grommet and check the cars wiring. make sure you disconnect the battery when checking the wires, i have seen some strange things happen when this is not done. checking the wiring should involve you getting a utility knife and cutting the electrical tape off. dont push it in the the loom, just make a surface cut, unwrap the tape and check the wiring. you may want to follow the loom into the car a little then cut there, then work your way to the grommet. you may need to tug a little to get some slack in the wiring. do you have a digital multimeter? if you don't, get your hands on one. this is the most basic tool anyone should have when doing electrical work.

btw, there is a grommet that is usually open on tegs(94-01)/civics(98+) that is on the passengers side. it leads to the back of the of the blower motor on the passenger side. you can't see it from the inside, but you can from the outside. its a little bit down from the battery. i don't know how big of a hole you need, but you can run 4 gauge wire through it. its kind of in a bad angle but the should be clearance, you may need to get a wire fisher or a coat hanger and shove it into the car from the engine bay. i know you needed the hole on the driver side, but incase you want to move it, that spots usually open.

 

Is there a trick to doing all that? There is not much room underneath the dash to work, so is there something I can remove to make it much easier to check the wiring?

 

assuming you have a G3(i think you do), you can remove the knee panel by removing the coin holder(genlty pull on it when its open) and there should be a philips head screw in there. its screwed in at a angle almost. then there are two more philips head screws on the lower left and right corner. then the bottom of the panel should be loose, there is two clips in the upper left and right hand corners. its easier to pull on the right side(side next the radio) with even pressure, increasing pressure until it pops. if you pull to hard you can warp the plastic(when you put it back on, it will not sit flush). then just pop the left side off. it should be out, then there should be metal reinforcement bar, just remove the 2 10mm bolts that and slide it up and out. this will not give you that much room, but it may help. the area you are going to work in is very tight. it gives you easy access to the fuse panel though.

have you verified that you did not hook it up wrong? did you check all fuses?

 

Thanks for the advice. I need all the room I can get since I am lacking in the "little asian hands" department.

I didn't hook it up wrong. I wired all three guages to the red/black wire from fuse #19 which controls the parking lights, dash lights, etc. I grounded the guages to a metal ground behind the kick panel near the door. I am going to look at the fuses briefly since it is raining and has been raining here for 4 days now. I will let you know what I find. I also found out today that my intermittent wipers don't work but all the rest do. Could that also be an issue with the wiring or something else since all the other speeds work?

 

Well, I went out and got totally drenched. But I FIXED it. Turns out that the #3 7.5 amp fuse was blown. It was blown pretty bad, so I hope it was just a momentary short of some sort or the rain caused it. Now my windshield wipers work, my dome lights work, my dash no longer says my door is open when it isn't, and my rear defroster works. Luckily I didn't have to do any electrical troubleshooting because the less electrical stuff I have to do, the happier I am. Thanks for all your help, guys.

 

ya bro, it is never good to tap into wires at the fuse panel(piggy back ontop of existing fueses). if you want wire colors, post up what wires(12v constant, parking lights, etc) you need so i can help you out. also, it is a good rule of thumb when running your own wires to add fuses to them(your own using a fuse holder of some type) so if in event, if something is wrong with the accessory you are putting in, its own fuses will blow.

 

I never thought of that. It is weird though because I didn't even touch the circuit for the fuse that blew. The one I tapped into was the #19 fuse and the #3 fuse was blown. :dunno: It hasn't blown again, so I am optimistic. I will remember what you said though before I do any more electrical work like that.