Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Problems after instlling '97 trunk lid

So i finally installed my '97 trunk lid on my '98 and it looks awesome . But now my car has a couple of problems. My instrument panel lights wont illuminate, my brake lights wont work, and my car wont go into gear ( its an automatic, Damn autos) and every time i put a fuse in the stop lights and instrument panel fuse spots they blow( WTF is going on )
And now it wont even start (OMG). Has any one had any problems when they do the trunk lid swap trunks. The only thing i can think of is thats all this is cause because of the license plate light are not connected thats the only thing elcetronic that i messed with. PLEASE its urgent i get my car back. its the only on i have.

My guess is you crossed some wires, but if you say they are not connected, I think they are making contact with each other or another metal surface.

ok well after 2 days of tinkering i replaced the fuses and everything works now except my car wont go in to gear unless i move the lookout switch. so im thinking that it just happened to fail when i decided to swap the trunk lids. ill give it 2 more days ill keep looking for the problem then ill take it to the dealer for a Diagnostics.

any suggestions is appreciated.

yeah i know ive replaced all my fuses and the condition remains.

When I was playing around in my trunk cleaning on afternoon I took out the trunk light to conserve battery. (I was leaving the trunk open all day) When I went to put the light back in it blew the fuse by touch positive light to the body of the car. I would guess your have a wire exposed onto the trunk lid. Probably you just haven't found the ripped wire. I would follow each line.

Also if you got the lid out of a junk yard( i'm assuming you did and didn't just steal it off a pre98 in the street ) someone could have messed with the wiring long before you got ahold of the trunk lid.

well its been almost 4 days since my car just decide to just stop working. ive replaced fuses checked wiring in the trunk (only thing plugged in is the reverse lights) and now....


Leftside rear i have turn light, hazard light, and parking light. No brake light .


Rightside rear all i have is parking light. No turning light, hazard light, or brake light.


But my third brake light works (the one in the back windshield).

I dont want to take it to the dealer until ive exhausted all possiblities of what the problem is. So any advice is needed. i just can see paying $80 for them to tell me the problem and then maybe paying $100 to get it fixed. At least not now.

I have never done this mod but I would guess that the wiring in the 97 trunk lid is diff than the 98. Try unplugging the wiring harness in the trunk lid, if the probs go away you need to rewire the 97 trunk lid to match the 98 wiring system.

Also did any of the wires that go along the left hinge get pinched between a bolt or anything?

Did anybody have any problems when they did the trunk swap?