Car Electrical System Woes
Aug. 1st, 2014 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogOh, I forgot to mention my car issues!
A week or two ago, Lisa borrowed my car to go to a bachelor/bachelorette party. When I got it back, the cigarette lighter and CB radios (that latter of which I had wired into the cigarette lighter wiring) weren't working. Lisa noted that she hadn't been able to charge things in the car, but wasn't sure when that started. I figured my wiring must have been bad, and decided to dig into it later.
Last week, my brother told me that my tail lights are not lighting up when the brakes are activated. The middle light at the bottom of the rear window works, but the two side ones do not. That, I thought, was a really odd set of things to fail together! I couldn't figure out how that could happen, but I also figured it must be related since it happened at the same time.
Yesterday, I bought a package of fuses (with one of those nice little pullers) and checked each fuse in the in-cabin fuse box. I replaced the cigarette lighter fuse, and that part of things was happy again. Maybe rather than my wiring, it's one of the devices I sometimes plug into it that I have to twist around to make work.
Anyway, with that fixed, my mother came out to look at the tail lights with me. They still don't work, so it must have been two unrelated issues that I just happened to become aware of at the same time. And now I have to figure out why my brake lights aren't working before I get a ticket! Good thing I almost never drive anywhere except when I visit my partners. The running lights and turn signals function of the same lamps work fine; it's just the brakes. Both filaments in the lamps are good too.
Hopefully this weekend, I can get over to Super-mechanic Juan's place and use his multimeter. Mine has been missing since moving out of my old rental house. There have been several times when I really could have used it in the last few years!
A week or two ago, Lisa borrowed my car to go to a bachelor/bachelorette party. When I got it back, the cigarette lighter and CB radios (that latter of which I had wired into the cigarette lighter wiring) weren't working. Lisa noted that she hadn't been able to charge things in the car, but wasn't sure when that started. I figured my wiring must have been bad, and decided to dig into it later.
Last week, my brother told me that my tail lights are not lighting up when the brakes are activated. The middle light at the bottom of the rear window works, but the two side ones do not. That, I thought, was a really odd set of things to fail together! I couldn't figure out how that could happen, but I also figured it must be related since it happened at the same time.
Yesterday, I bought a package of fuses (with one of those nice little pullers) and checked each fuse in the in-cabin fuse box. I replaced the cigarette lighter fuse, and that part of things was happy again. Maybe rather than my wiring, it's one of the devices I sometimes plug into it that I have to twist around to make work.
Anyway, with that fixed, my mother came out to look at the tail lights with me. They still don't work, so it must have been two unrelated issues that I just happened to become aware of at the same time. And now I have to figure out why my brake lights aren't working before I get a ticket! Good thing I almost never drive anywhere except when I visit my partners. The running lights and turn signals function of the same lamps work fine; it's just the brakes. Both filaments in the lamps are good too.
Hopefully this weekend, I can get over to Super-mechanic Juan's place and use his multimeter. Mine has been missing since moving out of my old rental house. There have been several times when I really could have used it in the last few years!
