Cutlass Ciera problems (that I made worse)

[Gray Pearl]

My sister has an Oldsmobile Cutless Ciera (used to be mine) where the power lock and power window switches on the driver door stopped working. I found that a number of wires in the wire bundle that goes into the driver's door were broken. Today I tried to splice the wires back together. While I was trying to strip a small orange wire there was a small electrical arc. Now the radio doesn't work, the power locks and windows don't work, and the interior lights don't work. All of the outside lights work, the dash lights work, the power seats work, the backlights on the radio and A/C controls work, and the A/C works.

I checked the fuses and all of them seem to be intact. Where do I go from here?

[ozoneblue]

You didn't check enough fuses . Check them with a test light & key on.

[Oldsguy]

I agree, a visual will not always tell you if a fuse is good or bad. Refer to your owner manual and look at the chart that indicates which fuse if for the window and door circuits. Then check that one or just "shotgun" it and replace it. And a lesson learned for everyone, when working on electrical stuff, especially when making repairs or stripping wires and such, remove power first.

[rocketraider]

Look for a burned fusible link, down near the starter or at the master junction block underhood. If there's a relay in the circuit (and usually is on PW and PSeat circuits) you may have toasted the relay.

And folks wonder why I always say most people's sh*t is self-inflicted.

[Gray Pearl]

Definately self-inflicted...