Recently got a 2001 civic from a friend. It had been sitting in her yard for about two years (started occasionally) before I got it. I put a brand new battery in and started driving. It's been about a week now and the other day the tail lights burned a fuse. I thought I may have done something wrong when installing a new radio but I only replaced the fuse and the lights worked fine, I drove home. The next day I was cleaning her up with radio on and smoke started coming out from under dash. Lights, radio, windows, etc all still work. Relay clicks when key turns to on position but nothing more afterwards. Starter makes no sound at all. I am completely lost. Anything will help and be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Darrick

 

200k miles

 

Is there any other aftermarket wiring such as an alarm system?

In the old models the tail light circuit went to the radio to light up the dial on a stock radio (this wire is generally not used by aftermarket radios, so it needs to be taped up to prevent shorts), I don't know if that is still the case with a 2001.

 

I had an alarm that was disconnected. I tried to completely remove the alarm at the same time of all this. I plugged two black wires back into alarm box and fired right up. Still can't figure out where the smoke was coming from. Thanks for responding