i'm a big fan of these and other mazda3 forums, and i tried to install some interior lights in my 2005 mazda3 S as per this tutorial: http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=19609.0

I opened up the map lights and got to all the wires up there, but I think I blew a fuse or short circuited something because now my car is all messed up! The radio won't turn on, the speedometer doesn't work, the automatic doors don't work, the map lights won't turn on, etc.

And to top it off, I'm leaving to go to college on Wednesday, and I have to resolve this ASAP because I'm taking my m3 with me!
Please give me all the advice you can... Hopefully someone else has had this problem and there is an easy solution. I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow.

Thank you,
Matt G

 

Go with a pro, if you messed up the first time, chances are you would do it again, and besides its very difficult to make a diagnosis without seeing the car, so undo whatever you did with the wires the first place, and try to leave it as before, make sure to use electrical tape to isolate the wires, then open the fuse box and look for a burnt one, or two (stereo, lights, doors, use different fuses) and I seriously doubt you inflicted some permanent damage to the car, usually fuses take the heat before damaging the electrical part, so if you just fused some... well fuses, it wont be expensive at all and the mechanic shouldn’t bill you a lot, so don’t worry, on the other hand if you burnt your car computer or something big, you can’t do nothing about it just by yourself.
If you have the tuner spirit within you, and you still want to do it yourself, ill recommend you to be extra careful and test the wires with a multimeter , check for loose connections, and don’t mix wire colors