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Had 6 cars come in with the same blown fuse in 2 days, and none of them were the real problem
Last Tuesday and Wednesday were the strangest two days I have had in a long time. Six different cars got towed in, all with the same dead circuit, all blowing the same 15 amp fuse within a mile of leaving their driveway. First three I just swapped the fuse, rang out the wiring, found nothing, sent them out the door. Thursday morning the fourth one came back on a hook and I finally got suspicious enough to actually sit down and look at the pattern. Turns out every single one had just had a cheap phone charger or dash cam plugged into the same style of 12 volt socket adapter, and the little spring contact inside was bent enough to short against the barrel. Three of those six people paid me 80 bucks each for a fuse and a handshake, and I felt like a crook by Friday. I pulled every one of those adapters apart on my bench and 4 of the 6 had the same bent tab. Now I ask about accessories before I even grab my meter, and I want to know if any of you have run into a run of junk 12 volt plugs like this or if I just got lucky with a bad batch.
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victorb1710d ago
Reverse the order on those diag jobs and save yourself the headache later. I started pulling the plug and looking at the socket tang before I even hook up the meter, and about half the time that spring is bent over and touching the side wall. Takes ten seconds and it has saved me from handing back cars that were just going to come back on a hook.
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