Wherein, we learn the perils of associated damage that can be caused by well-intentioned custom wiring...



OK, so I had this bright idea last night... I hate that my MP3 player is powered by a huge adapter plugged into my cigarette lighter on the console, and I want that clean, open space back. Well, hey, there's ANOTHER plug in the boot, and Radio Shack sells a 10' extension cord... Hmmmmm, says I...

So, a few hours later I'm happily tucking wires in the side trim... I find a perfect spot inside the driver's side fuse box with enough dead space to insert the connection... the cord is just perfectly sized – not too long, not too short… Lovely!

Then I see this little bundle of blue and purple wires, all running to a connection of some sort, dangling from the port side wiring harness...

Odd. I look at it - there are no metallic connectors or ports. The whole thing is smooth, unbroken plastic. I see no obvious places for it to plug into. (Shrug)... it must be some sort of chipped terminal or something, figures I.

Wrong. Car won't turn over. Lights all work. Radio works. Ignition turns on, but there's nothing at all when I try to crank the car.

So, of course, I do what any rational, thinking MINI owner does at 10:30 PM on a weeknight, with no chance of help.

I freak out.

I check the battery. I check the cabrio's rear trunk opening thingie. I unplug the thing I just plugged into the boot power source. I wave a dead chicken over the car, muttering prayers to the voudoun gods of technology and all things infernal... I beg the car to please, oh God please, start.


Nothing.

Then I begin to imagine the call the next morning to the dealership... Their eye-rolling... their laughs as they doubtless fix the issue in 30 seconds (after a flatbed tow trip and a night of enduring my wife's scornful "I knew you'd blow that damn car up sooner or later" comments). A tear rolls down my haggard cheek...

Thirty hilarious minutes later I finally remember to breathe, and shove my whole head inside the foot well area and look around. I finally locate a tiny concavity the same shape of the plastic dongle thingie on the side of the steering linkage, and sure enough, the thing snaps right in (magnetically? via black magic? who knows...). Car fires right up.

I swear... swear... it chuckled, indulgently, at me.

So, let that be a lesson kiddies... look around carefully before you run wires, lest you disconnect the "dongle of doooooom" and have your beloved car taunt you.

 

I'm really surprised the dead chicken didn't work. Did you wave it heads up or heads down over the car

Great story , and I can't tell you how many times I've done similar things .

BTW, I put a power outlet in my Eurotray for the same reason: interior vanity!

The joys of modifying our own cars...

 

Heard that one a time or two!

 

JUST a time or two?

Wanna wife swap? I want to add a few more things...

 

One must be careful what one wishes for ...
Oh and perhaps the mods can start us a Forum for wife/spouse swapping.

 

man that must have been a scare

 

2 easy fixes to your issue gentleman

1 don't get married, and no I won't trade.

2 know what it is you're touching on the car (NAM is helpful in this respect), the is particularly true when it comes ot electrical work. I'm just glad somethign far worse didn't occur.

 

Well, in my defense, *I* did not touch it... it popped off when I dragged a wire across it. I had no idea that it was only held on by what appears to be a fridge magnet behind plastic.

 

#1) Too late and poor sport
#2)