Help in San Jose, Coastal EV install?

[ThunderJon]

Any PC members in the San Jose ,CA area willing to help with my Coastal EV install in my 2006. I "have it in" but can't get it to work. I suspect that 'maybe' the orange needs to go deeper, but the wire insulation prevents it. I'm having a really tough time especially given the size of my hands and forearms... or if you can recommend a nearby shop that has done this before... I have messed with this 4 times already and pulled the dash apart twice... frustration meter is peaking.

Thanks!

[tripp]

Originally posted by ThunderJon@Mar 14 2006, 01:00 PM
Any PC members in the San Jose ,CA area willing to help with my Coastal EV install in my 2006. I "have it in" but can't get it to work. I suspect that 'maybe' the orange needs to go deeper, but the wire insulation prevents it. I'm having a really tough time especially given the size of my hands and forearms... or if you can recommend a nearby shop that has done this before... I have messed with this 4 times already and pulled the dash apart twice... frustration meter is peaking.

Thanks!

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If you can stomach having another go at it, get yourself a eye glass repair screwdriver. They're really small and work great for stuffing that stupid connector into place. I tried for a few minites just with my hands and only got it part of the way in. Then I tried the screw driver and it was a snap. Took all of 2 seconds to snap the thing into place.

[ThunderJon]

Originally posted by tripp@Mar 14 2006, 12:16 PM
If you can stomach having another go at it, get yourself a eye glass repair screwdriver. They're really small and work great for stuffing that stupid connector into place. I tried for a few minites just with my hands and only got it part of the way in. Then I tried the screw driver and it was a snap. Took all of 2 seconds to snap the thing into place.

[snapback]224768[/snapback]

Yea, its still a really tight area for me to get into and the wire insulation is starting to deform at the top of the exposed orange wire... am I safe to just strip it back a little more... I had gotten some bent needlenose pliers to extend my reach and try to push it in further, to no avail.

[tripp]

Originally posted by ThunderJon@Mar 14 2006, 01:39 PM
Yea, its still a really tight area for me to get into and the wire insulation is starting to deform at the top of the exposed orange wire... am I safe to just strip it back a little more... I had gotten some bent needlenose pliers to extend my reach and try to push it in further, to no avail.

[snapback]224780[/snapback]

I can't comment on the stripping. I'm very much a layman when it comes to cars. However, the cool thing out the screwdriver is that you put the pressure on the metal sleave and not on the wire itself. That way is doesn't bend and get stressed. On the other hand I've got small hands and was able to get at the plug pretty easily.

I'll gladly help out if you're planning a road trip to CO. The skiing is excellent this year, that should be an incentive all by itself.

[glenk]

The pin for the coastal ev mod shouldn't be that much trouble to push in. They use a proper crimping tool for the pin, unlike the people robbing similar (but not exactly like) pins from the headlight stalk connector and then soldering their own wire to it.

Are you sure you're getting the white retaining bar out far enough? And possibly, do you have the pin in the right orientation per the coastal instructions. I'm sure you have checked but it is very important to not have the pin turned around. The pin has a small tab that is perpendicular to the pin body and protrudes from it slightly. This fits in very small slot in the plastic connector body. If these tabs perhaps got bent or misaligned, you'll have a difficult time trying to get it in.

The front edge of the pin when inserted correctly should almost be flush with the holes visible at the end of the connector. You can make a mark on the wire with a felt pen when placed against the outside of the connector body and where it would approximately be positioned at a full insertion depth. Then when you try to insert the pin/wire, you have a gauge of how far you have to go. Like suggested by others, use a jeweler's screwdriver to push down on the wire crimp on the top of the pin.

Also, possibly the logic device (that provides the delayed response from the cruise control switch) might possibly be bad itself and you actually have the pin installed correctly!


Glen in Cupertino

[aaf709]

Although I used a tiny screwdriver, I understand Radio Shack has a pin inserter for about $3.

[V8Cobrakid]

I'm in the San Jose area. I've been doing electrical for a while now. I'm pretty nimble. If you want help i'll give you a hand. It's worth it just to see EV mode work

[bruceha_2000]

I concur with the TINY screwdriver bit (and the lack of room to handle all the parts!). You want something that will just fit inside the connector, needlenose pliers are WAY too big. Definately push on the metal, not the insulation. I don't recall the tab on the pin Glen mentioned, either I got lucky or it was 'obvious' to me. I did have to have a go at the pin 3 times because I was worried I might break something if I pushed too much.

Another possibility is that the clamp clipped on the wires isn't fully closed and not making it through the insulation. I found that the physically hardest part. You almost need 3 small hands but I have 2 big ones. 1 to hold the wires apart, 1 to hold the clip in place and 1 to close it.

Also, you don't need to put the dash together to test it. Maybe you did your 4 tries on different days? I can see putting things back together then.

[jbarnhart]

I'm in Santa Clara and I also have the Coastal kit. I have not installed mine yet. We could get together with V8CobraKid and have a mini-event installing our EV kits.

[V8Cobrakid]

sounds like fun.