We needed our coffee fix and there was no in-room coffee so I went in search of a source. When I started the Vette, the dash display was on but there was no backlight. And there was warmish air coming through the vents. While the day before had been gloriously cool and dry, the humidity had moved back in overnight so it became evident in a hurry that something was amiss. I put aside thoughts of diagnosing the electrical issues after getting coffee and attending the morning songwriting sessions. My plan was to check the car at lunch and if needed, drive to Alcoa for whatever parts might be needed.
Herein lies Thing Number One. At lunch I made the trip to Alcoa and picked up a fuse, and in my zeal to make sure it would fix the problem I made the change while the key was on. What I found out was that you should never, ever, change a fuse while the ignition is on. Silly me, I didn’t know that was verboten, but later while surfing online I discovered that it can reset all kinds of parameters in the car’s computers and can make the air conditioner think that 85 is just dandy. So for the rest of the time in Tennessee and on the return drive home, we had, for all intents and purposes, no a/c.
But it gets better. I don’t know if this was caused by the short circuit in the lighter socket or by some other cause, but the ECM went wonky on us and would cut in and out when we went over bumps. We would be driving along and BAM the pavement would send a message to the ECM which would then cause the speedometer to stop working and turn on the Check Engine Light. Ugh. Then another bump and POW the speedo was working and the dash lights were back to normal. Eventually the ECM went totally off the deep end, so we replaced it just before embarking on the Real Deal in September. Regardless of the annoyance of goofy electronics and the Brownian motion of the car on irregular pavement, we still managed to get some excellent rides out of the car before it was time to go to Cali.
