Defyant Short

[DEFYANT]

Locked in, interior lights out, and A/C down for the count.

Marauder down, Marauder down, we have a Marauder down.:(

The other day I noticed my door locks would not work at the door switches and my interior lights were out. About the same time my A/C or EATC went dark. I could live locked in and in the dark, but no A/C? LOL, time to get to work.

Dug in to find 15amp fuse #23, was toast. I chased down every lead and repeated every test and kept blowing fuses. This problem had lost its fun, so I called MCMs very own Shakes26 and Carfixer. I figured these guys would know.

What? So you think I am crazy for thinking a couple of guys in Florida could come up with a fix for an electrical problem on a car in Maryland?

Crazy? Maybe, but I was right. After several possibilities were eliminated, Carfixer mentions "you know, when I worked at the FLM dealer, several cars came in with pinched wires in the sun visors."

Nah.... really?

I pulled mine off and didnt see a problem. Tossed them aside, and continued searching for the short. Lo and behold, I stuck a fuse in there and poof, no more short. But I could not recall what the hell I had just done. I plugged and unplugged a lot of wires. Frankly I forgot about the visors until I was just about done with reassembly.

Then I found it. Driver side visor. The wire come through the visor post, bends down around two hooks, then gets plugged in. Well, I am going about this reassembly when I see a small slit in the black outter plastic covering.

Could this be....?

Slide that bad boy back and on the green wire w/ orange strip this is the pinch! There was a small spot that rubbed through. See pics:

http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/files/6/4/2010-08-12_13.30.47_thumb.jpg (http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4976&c=member&imageuser=64)

http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/files/6/4/2010-08-12_13.31.25_thumb.jpg (http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4977&c=member&imageuser=64)

http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/files/6/4/2010-08-12_13.29.57_thumb.jpg (http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4975&c=member&imageuser=64)

http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/files/6/4/2010-08-12_13.32.29_thumb.jpg (http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=4978&c=member&imageuser=64)


So if your interior lights and door locks quit, look up. Chances are, you'll be looking at the problem!

The EATC came back to life during the hunt for the short. After it came back on, it was blowing A/C out the defrost and floor vents. Thanks to JACooks EATC repair thread: http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3365 new o-rings are installed and all is good again!

[Black_Noise]

i love getting stuff like that at work, and only getting 1 hour to diagnose it, and people ***** ablout having to pay an hour for us to tell them the problem

[Mr. Man]

I could see this diagnosis in the sticky area.

[Seneca]

Thanks for the heads up on that charlie.. very good thing to remember.

[Joe Walsh]

Locked in, interior lights out, and A/C down for the count.

Marauder down, Marauder down, we have a Marauder down.:(

The other day I noticed my door locks would not work at the door switches and my interior lights were out. About the same time my A/C or EATC went dark. I could live locked in and in the dark, but no A/C? LOL, time to get to work.

Dug in to find 15amp fuse #23, was toast. I chased down every lead and repeated every test and kept blowing fuses. This problem had lost its fun, so I called MCMs very own Shakes26 and Carfixer. I figured these guys would know.

What? So you think I am crazy for thinking a couple of guys in Florida could come up with a fix for an electrical problem on a car in Maryland?

Pretty amazing to diagnose an electrical gremlin over the phone from a 1,000 miles away!......:bows:

Crazy? Maybe, but I was right. After several possibilities were eliminated, Carfixer mentions "you know, when I worked at the FLM dealer, several cars came in with pinched wires in the sun visors."

Nah.... really?

I pulled mine off and didnt see a problem. Tossed them aside, and continued searching for the short.
Lo and behold, I stuck a fuse in there and poof, no more short.

Is that a contradiction in terms? .....:P

But I could not recall what the hell I had just done. I plugged and unplugged a lot of wires. Frankly I forgot about the visors until I was just about done with reassembly.

Then I found it. Driver side visor. The wire come through the visor post, bends down around two hooks, then gets plugged in. Well, I am going about this reassembly when I see a small slit in the black outter plastic covering.

Could this be....?

Slide that bad boy back and on the green wire w/ orange strip this is the pinch! There was a small spot that rubbed through. See pics:

So if your interior lights and door locks quit, look up. Chances are, you'll be looking at the problem!

The EATC came back to life during the hunt for the short. After it came back on, it was blowing A/C out the defrost and floor vents. Thanks to JACooks EATC repair thread: http://www.motorcitymarauders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3365 new o-rings are installed and all is good again!

Nice read Charlie...I'll store that tidbit in my mechanic's memory bank!
I would never have checked the sunvisor wiring.

[TooManyFords]

+1. That is why forums are so useful.