Some "magic smoke" escaped

[MrWampus]

OK, I can tell already that my problems with this "mistress" are going to be of the electrical variety. Here's what happened today. I'll try to be brief but I don't want to leave out any detail that could be important.

A new stereo that I recently had professionally installed is wired to take power from the door chime circuit so that all I have to do is insert the key in the ignition to get it to come on. I've read that others have done that too so that you don't have to run the fuel pump and heat the coil to have music.

This evening after I finished playing golf, I opened the trunk then put the key in the ignition so I'd have music while I changed my shoes. It took maybe 3 minutes to change shoes, put the clubs in the trunk and get in the car. When I turned the key to start the engine, nothing happened. I thought my battery was dead. I asked anyone for jumper cables and someone suggested trying a roll start first since pulling the battery cover off can be a pain. We roll started it and it fired right up.

This is the part that worries me: As soon as the car started, I put the face plate back on the radio and when I did, that's when the magic smoke got out. (Everyone knows that cars and electronics run on "magic smoke" and when some of it get's out, you know you have a problem.) I couldn't tell exactly where it came from but it seemed to come from the center of the dash and billowed out from several places. I quickly pulled the radio face plate back off to cut the power and the smoke dissipated. (The radio part could be complete coincidence. It could be that whatever shorted, took about as long to burn through whatever it was as putting on and taking off the face plate.) Car still running, lights are on, dash lights working all seems OK. So I drive home without music and the car runs great with all the electrics working (lights, turn signals etc).

When I got home, I turned off the engine and then restarted it to check if it would fire. It fired right up, no problems. Door chime dings when I open the door. But when I turned it off again, I noticed the red battery discharge light is on and stays on even when I remove the key completely. That tells me I have an active short somewhere and I'm draining the battery, right? I tried disconnecting the wire bundle that feeds the brown wire to the ignition switch, thinking that I may have shorted the switch, but that did not kill the red indicator.

I disconnected the battery and buttoned up the car, but now I don't know what to do. I don't know how severe the short is so I don't want to leave the car parked with the battery draining, and I don't want to risk a fire. Incidently, the radio still works fine. I put the face plate back on and it powered up and no more magic smoke appeared. I also have an XM radio receiver wired to the door chime power but I didn't check that again after I got home. I don't know where the smoke came from or what active short I have. Any ideas?

[azruss]

the first thing i would do is crawl under the dash, specifically around the fuse box and look for signs of melted insulation. If you dont find any there, then see what you can see coming out of the upper console. whats that old adage....where there's smoke there's melted insulation.

[124JOE]

ill just bet that the power wire for the cig lighter shorted out on the radio case
behind the console

[MrWampus]

Great suggestions, both. Thanks, I'll check those tomorrow and report back my findings.

[rlux4]

Can you see where they tapped into the wire going to the chime?
I don't like coincedence. Even though the installers were professionals, it doesn't follow that they did it right. I had my XM radio installed in my truck by "pros" , and because I couldn't get good FM reception afterwards, I pulled the dash off and found the worst cob-job I've ever seen.
I have my radio getting power from the door chime wire, but I pulled the chime and all the line feeds is the radio. Although I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt to run more than one thing off of the wire, I didn't want to take the chance that the slight loss of power being used by the chime would affect the electronics of the radio.
Ron

[vandor]

I think the reason the alternator light stays on is that when the wire shorted it may have messed up the alternator. As mentioned above, the cigarette lighter wire is a good candidate, being close to the radio and rather heavy, so it can carry a lot of current. I am not sure why the fuse did not blow. Definitely look for burnt insulation, especially behind/under the radio. I agree that 'professional' installation means nothing nowadays...

[bobplyler]

"Professional" doesn't mean anything any more. My wife had the oil changed in her Escort once. The "professional" at Tire Kingdom put 5 quarts in. In an engine that takes 4 quarts.

[divace73]

Normally on car stereo's the yellow is the 'power' wire (it is normally thicker) and a red (ign switch) wire.
The power should be coming from the yellow and fused somewhere up the line, the red wire is the one that should be hooked up to the door chime, Thats how I have my unit hooked up. (Infact it is hooked up to a power source and the switch in the ignition barrel that operates the door chime, operates the radio as well, as we dont have an acc switch on ours)

[wikkid]

And, by the way, you are wrong if you think you did not have music to listen to on the way home just because you didn't have your radio. In fact, one could argue that the music you had was even superior!

[MrWampus]

And, by the way, you are wrong if you think you did not have music to listen to on the way home just because you didn't have your radio. In fact, one could argue that the music you had was even superior!

Funny! You know I was actually thinking on the way home how really good the car sounded and how smooth she was running. You're right, it was music, just a different variety.

I'm going now to check for melted wires, I'll report back what I find.

[MrWampus]

OK an update. I pulled the glovebox out and the electrical connection for the radio and XM both look fine. I pulled the courtesy light out and shined a flashlight in. The cig lighter is unplugged from behind (no wonder it wasn't working for my cell phone charger) I do see a small red wire that seems crimped under the radio but the insulation doesn't look burned. I can't tell where the wire goes, but I'm guessing it's to something like the radio clock. That could be the culprit, but not sure. That lead would be hot, unswitched which would explain the discharge indicator even with the key out. I need to pull the radio to find out.

I reconnected the battery and still have a discharge light in the dash (no key in the ignition) I pulled each fuse one at a time to see if I could at least isolate the circuit. (looking for the dischare light to go off with each pulled fuse) No luck there. The owner's manual says the cig lighter is on it's own fuse but doesn't say where that is located. Any suggestions? Is it an in-line fuse? If it is the lighter power that got fried, I at least want to disconnect it up stream so I don't have a short.

Another question, I can I access the cig lighter module and the hazard lights switch? I'd eventually want to replace the lighter but I can't see how to access it.

That's it for now, any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[124JOE]

the red wire"cig power"has a white fuse holder just a few inches up from the cig lighter
somthing should look burnt or at least smell

[MrWampus]

Looks like the key to this is to remove the radio so I can get access to the center console. I'll have to get the little plastic removal tools from "Beast Buy" so I can do that, or else have the tech do it under warranty since it seems related to his install.

Here's yet another wrinkle though. I opened the owner's manual (When all else fails, RTFM). On page 6 for the description of the battery charge indicator it says the following:

"With the engin inoperative, and ignition key in position MAR, the charge indicator is on and must go out when engine is started; should indicator turn on while engine is running, this is a warning of a fault in the battery recharging system: turn immediately to a FIAT Dealer for assistance."

Well, my battery charge indicator turns off when I start the car. It turns back on when I switch off the engine. Could it be that the short is in the ignition switch itself? It seems as though the light may not indicate a power drain as I assumed, it could just be stuck on and the problem is in the ignition switch. Remember that when this first happened (before the smoke) I turned the key to AVV and nothing happened. It's only after the roll-start that I got the smoke and the stuck on battery charge indicator.

I still need to find out what caused the smoke, but my short term goal is to be able to drive the car and not have to disconnect the battery cable to prevent running the battery down, or worry about starting a fire.

Thoughts?

[124JOE]

if you think the radio install did this GET BACK THERE NOW and make them take care of it the right way

[MrWampus]

if you think the radio install did this GET BACK THERE NOW and make them take care of it the right way

See that's the thing, it could all be just coincidence. I will certainly go back and have him pull the unit so I can see what's fried, but I really don't know if it's related to the install. It was done a few weeks ago.

I still need to find the cause and location of the smoke, but could the indicator light be "stuck" in the on position in the ignition switch?