Cigar Lighter Electrical Short - '86 Carrera
06-04-2008, 04:39 AM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Cigar Lighter Electrical Short - '86 Carrera
Folks,
After wondering for TWO YEARS why my cell-phone charger made a VERY 'iffy' contact in my ‘Cigar Lighter’ (even after cleaning the interior contact areas) it finally became clear when my wife handed me the WHOLE assembly with the words "... it just came out!".
Here's the deal. There's a totally INACCESSABLE area in this world (one of many I would guess...) known as the REAR OF THE CIGAR LIGHTER ASSEMBLY!
With the 'assembly' out the positive (+V) contact that plugs into the rear of the assembly promptly grounded out on something and, thank goodness, blew fuse #6 (25 amp) on my car’s #1 panel. This also takes out the fresh-air blower (dash) and the rear window defogger on my car.
I’m not going to go into the whole she-bang on this right now because I’m TOO pissed! Suffice to say it was a bitch to get to. The only possible entry point seemed to be from the front trunk and only if you removed a proverbial ‘**** LOAD’ of stuff up front!
With perseverance (3 HOURS!!!) and some NEAT surgical tools I use for modeling I was able to get things back together to include heat-shrink insulating a portion of the ‘hot’ wire I damaged in the process.
My question is WHY, WHY, WHY is this so DIFFICULT??? I seriously could not find access to this from underneath the dash or any conceivable place save the trunk entry which would have represented a good day’s labor for a trained mechanic.
GOOD GOD, Dropping the ENGINE would have been EASIER!!!
My REAL hope is that someone can tell me how I SHOULD have gone about it. I’ll laugh, cry, and THEN find that block of C4 to hit with a hammer!
Barry
WHAT A BITCH – AAAAARRRRRGGGGG
After wondering for TWO YEARS why my cell-phone charger made a VERY 'iffy' contact in my ‘Cigar Lighter’ (even after cleaning the interior contact areas) it finally became clear when my wife handed me the WHOLE assembly with the words "... it just came out!".
Here's the deal. There's a totally INACCESSABLE area in this world (one of many I would guess...) known as the REAR OF THE CIGAR LIGHTER ASSEMBLY!
With the 'assembly' out the positive (+V) contact that plugs into the rear of the assembly promptly grounded out on something and, thank goodness, blew fuse #6 (25 amp) on my car’s #1 panel. This also takes out the fresh-air blower (dash) and the rear window defogger on my car.
I’m not going to go into the whole she-bang on this right now because I’m TOO pissed! Suffice to say it was a bitch to get to. The only possible entry point seemed to be from the front trunk and only if you removed a proverbial ‘**** LOAD’ of stuff up front!
With perseverance (3 HOURS!!!) and some NEAT surgical tools I use for modeling I was able to get things back together to include heat-shrink insulating a portion of the ‘hot’ wire I damaged in the process.
My question is WHY, WHY, WHY is this so DIFFICULT??? I seriously could not find access to this from underneath the dash or any conceivable place save the trunk entry which would have represented a good day’s labor for a trained mechanic.
GOOD GOD, Dropping the ENGINE would have been EASIER!!!
My REAL hope is that someone can tell me how I SHOULD have gone about it. I’ll laugh, cry, and THEN find that block of C4 to hit with a hammer!
Barry
WHAT A BITCH – AAAAARRRRRGGGGG
06-04-2008, 08:18 AM
#2
Team Owner
I just did mine Barry
had to take out the heater box thing at the front of the car .. Gave me a great pooprtunity to clean things up . once you resign yourself to the fact you have to do i it wasn't too bad.
had to take out the heater box thing at the front of the car .. Gave me a great pooprtunity to clean things up . once you resign yourself to the fact you have to do i it wasn't too bad.
Last edited by theiceman; 01-09-2013 at 10:14 AM.
06-04-2008, 03:05 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
