Strange sound after removing and retruning dashboard ACC unit

Hi, I'm a bit worried that I might have screwed something up. I took out the dashboard ACC panel and one of the heated seat swithches, to see if I could fix some of the lights that were not functioning, and when I placed it back, I turned on the ignition to see if it all worked well again. At that moment I heard dome sort of soft explosion, a loud "Puffff", kind of like a backfire that I used to have a lot when the car was till on LPG. I did not crank the engine, just turned on the ignition I also noticed a strange smell.

I did not dare to start it, due to the late hour, and I could not notice something irregular under the hood, so today I'll take a look.

Anybody have any clues?

Reply to
Nel Frikandel
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Reply to
Nel Frikandel

You've almost certainly trapped and shorted something out in the dash board, which in turn should have blown a fuse.

Pull out the ACC unit again and check with a torch for burnt out/blackened wires. Check your fuses, and then function of all electrical systems. I doubt very much you'll do any further damage by turning ignition on, as a fuse should have blown.

My guess is something got trapped back there when you pushed the unit back in, which didn't cause a problem until you turned the ignition on to provide power to the circuits.

If you find burnt out wire/switch, replace it, and put it all back together carefully.

If you find a blown fuse it should point you in the direction of which wires/switches to check.

Good luck, I have my own electrical gremlins to deal with which I may well post on later this week!

Al

Reply to
Al

Fuses *should* protect wires from charring. That's their very purpose.

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

I couldn't agree more strongly,

just like O-Ring seals "should" stop space shuttle solid rocket boosters leaking, ferry doors "should" close to stop the sea coming in, airport security "should"stop hijackers, the list is endless.

My opinion stands, a wire was crushed, shorted and that accounts for the sound and the smell. Given the above symptoms I stand by my (amateur) diagnosis. Thinking on the hoof here, has the original stereo been replaced? Amateur wiring to get a couple of positive feeds to the back of a non Saab radio could easily lead to the above. If the wiring used was skinny rubbish, and the power taken from a circuit on a 20 amp fuse, it's entirely feasible the wire would blow before the fuse. Especially if it was badly cut by the replacement of the ACC unit, leaving only a few strands remaining? I use the stereo as an example, any other additional circuits added after manufacture could have the same problem. I blew a phone kit automute kit up once because the muppet who fitted it didn't put an inline fuse in the circuit. PCB tracks work well as fuses!

If Nel could enlighten us as to where the smell and "puff" sound came from it would be interesting.

Al

Reply to
Al

Sure! As it seems the sound & smell came from the part between the engine compartiment and the dash, there's a small compartment there that you can screw the lid of, the little hose with the windshield washer fluid goes in there. As far as I can recollect, the sound did not come from inside the dash, because when I was placing the unit back I was with my head very close to the dash, and should have heard it more clearly. I had the right fron door open when it happened, and it sounded as if it came from underneith the car. When I opened the hood, I hardly smelled it anymore.

In the meantime I hav driven the car twice, and noticed that the ACC seems to work well, though it is too cold out here to actually notice if cold air is blowing in, bu I do notice the small shocks that occurr when the compressor is shifing on or off.

Thanks!

Reply to
Nel Frikandel

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