The Exciting World of Electricity! (MSD issues?)

I went ahead and ordered everything except the winch, but I added a winch mount to the list for later. I'm going with one that's a receiver so I can remove it easily and mount it on my truck or whatever else has a 2" hitch mount. The air springs should be here tomorrow, everything else on Thursday. Looks like I'll be busy working on the truck this weekend. It due for an oil change too, so it's right on time!

After I take care of the truck, the trailer will get it's new jack mounted. Then maybe I'll get the Cobra off of the trailer and replace the ignition switch. We'll see what all I can get done....

That it does. Can't see that part even if I was looking at the back up camera. My buddy saw it coming but I had to kinda gun it to get it up and onto the concrete so it happened too quick for him to be able to stop me from doing it.

All is well now though, it's been replaced and a tongue box has been added. I spent most all day Saturday taking care of stuff with my truck and never did get to the ignition switch.

2Blue2 said:

I vote for chrome/cool rims for her now.

Click to expand...

The thought's crossed my mind.

Nah, I already have a house that I'm "building" - no need for yet ANOTHER project! Besides, that would negate any benefits of having sold my camper and having a car trailer.

Quick update on the actual subject of this thread

So I just bought the ignition switch and will pick it up from O'Really's on my way home from work. I am, of course, a rewards member and after spending a little more than $400 on stuff for the truck last week I had a $15 reward in my email. Using that made the new switch cost a hair less than $5. It's supposed to rain today again, but tomorrow is supposed to be decent from what the almighty weather websites tell me, so maybe I'll try to get it installed tomorrow after work and get it off of my trailer.

2Blue2 said:

give it time I think you'll warm up to the idea

Click to expand...

nope

2Blue2 said:

oh come on you could make the trailer slide out from under neath and have the best of both worlds

Click to expand...

No, it's the electrical connector that's mounted to the steering column under the dash.

Ok, so I changed the ignition switch, but there's no guarantees that that was the issue. It makes sense though between that and the pickup, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I take it out next time I don't have to come get my trailer to get the car off the side of the road.

Anyway, if you want me to do a separate write-up thread I can, but this is how you should change the switch. Either remove the steering wheel OR remove the driver seat. I did neither but wish I would've. Remove the plastic dash piece that spans the distance over the steering column. Remove the 4 nuts holding the column up. If your seat or steering wheel are removed you'll have more space than I did, but that will reveal the switch itself. Unplug the connector - this is definitely where you'll thank yourself for removing the seat or wheel. Remove the 2 nuts holding the switch in place. Remove the switch. Obviously, reverse these steps to install. But when installing, you'll need to make sure your key is in the proper position as there's a rod that engages the switch that directly corresponds to the key position. The switch has slots to accomodate any tolerances, so you'll need to really watch that, otherwise it's pretty straight forward.



Now, the reason I say I hope this is it is that my AF gauge lit up after installing the switch and the car fired up. But the gauge died again while the car was running, so I think there's another issue somewhere that I'll have to investigate. My fan also didn't turn on at it's prescribed temperature setting, but did after I shut the car off. So I have some kind of wiring gremlin somewhere with all of that.



And I went ahead and pumped the air springs up and checked that out before pulling the trailer from the garage pad and backing the car off of it. I ended up trying the 12v compressor I picked up from Amazon and inflated them to about 40 pounds or so. The truck still squatted an inch from where it sits without, but it definitely raises the rear with the car still on the trailer. I didn't actually measure while it was squatted, so I don't really know how much it's changed. Hopefully it'll be enough that I don't hit the driveway with my jack if/when I do this again.



I've been busy this morning!

AND I think I may have found the ACTUAL problem! I opened the hood to check the fuse for the AF gauge and it WAS blown. So I started looking at all of the wires I've messed with over the course of these past escapades. I wiggled them and had a spark, so I looked closer and found that one of the wires that I connected spade connectors to was ever so slightly bare before the connector and was grounding on the brake booster. So I taped that up and looked over things a little more. As I did I found a couple more wires that could potentially ground and cause issues, so I taped them up as well. After getting that all buttoned up I changed the blown fuse, fired it up and let it idle for about 20 minutes. After making sure my fan would kick on, and it did, I then started playing with the throttle and revving it up. It still has a lean backfire as I do that while it's at temperature, so I'm thinking I'll still have to play with accelerator pump size and maybe discharge nozzle size. But hopefully this will be the last of the electrical problems!!