NAIAS... Wish I was there

I usually try to make it back to Michigan for the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS)but with being newly married and traveling somewhere almost every other weekend I'll be sitting this years out. Today was opening day and it looks like we've got some exciting new cars on the horizon for 2013. GM unveiled the much anticipated and much ballyhooed Cadillac ATS, and Ford showed up with their new bread and butter Fusion sedan, that looks an awful lot like it's stealing parts from Aston Martin. Dodge also introduced the new Dart, which looks like a major improvement, though not something I would care to own.

Here's hoping these will help get the "big 3" back on top.


http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f63/naias-2013-cadillac-ats-108049



http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f63/naias-2013-ford-fusion-108070/


http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f63/naias-2013-dodge-dart-neon-future-108076/

I can't pronounce the name, but I want one!

Behold the Donkervoort D8 GTO.

Have I ever mentioned I hate electrical work?

Those of you who know me, know my beloved old 1996 Jeep Cherokee. While mechanically I've had very few problems with my Jeep, even including several trips across the country (from Pennsylvania to Nevada 6 times, with side trips to the Pacific coast, and several trips to the Atlantic coast), recently the age, and Northern love of piling salt on the roads during winter have started taking their toll.

Mysteriously a couple of months ago all my exterior lights quit working. After telling myself I was going to troubleshoot it myself I finally bit the bullet and decided to go to a shop. $405 later I had function headlights! But the gages no longer worked, and the turn signals were pretty iffy.

Going the simple route I decided to check fuses for a gauge fuse, and sure enough there was one fuse that provided protection to all the gauges. I pulled it, and it was NOT burned out. I replaced it anyway and viola! Gauges.

On to the blinker. Since they were intermittent, I thought it seemed like a blinker relay problem. New blinker at NAPA $20... blinkers! for about 5 miles, then intermittent again. Frustrated I go after the blinker fuse. Book says it's in slot 8. Pull perfectly fine fuse from slot 8, but notice that there are only contacts on one side of the terminal. Think to myself "that's odd, shop must have screwed that up when they worked on it" but just for fun, I pulled the fuse and tried the blinker... well... the blinker worked. On to plan B

Started pulling fuses with the blinker running until I touched one... did not pull the fuse, but the blinker stopped... wiggled it and blinker came on again. A Ha! Pulled the fuse and only the plastic portion came off in my hand. Off to the garage to get pliers and remove the rest of the fuse. Fuse out, and no blinkers... put the new fuse from slot 8 into slot 10... blinkers! reliably! Consult the owners manual to see what slot 10 is... "Empty".

So, on the day that my Jeep was built in 1995... I think some assembly worker just decided to have some extra fun when he wired up the fuse block.