HELP!! Installing Coastal EV Mod!

Go to a shop that installs radios. Ask them if they could help you pull the pin out. They might just have the right tool.

Good luck.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Howard @ Apr 13 2006, 02:16 PM) [snapback]239391[/snapback]</div>

As for tools, Radio Shack is supposed to sell pin insertion tools for about $3. They may have a removal tool as well.

 

cripes.

why is coastal using such big pins?

they should know by now there are ECU sized pins.

if they got off their butts people wouldn't be dealing with this crap.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Apr 13 2006, 03:38 PM) [snapback]239437[/snapback]</div>

Yes, considering this is their cash cow.

Mine went in with no problems, and I couldn't believe it, considering all the problems others have had.

 

Sounds like that little "catch" piece on the pin has bent backwards and is probably caught between the plug and the white bar.

You may be able to push the entire pin back down into the plug, which should bend that pin back straight.

Then try to lift the bar and push the plug out from the front.

Good luck!

 

I have the Costal EV mod, and the pin on mine was the right size. I cannot imagine they'd be using wrong-size pins. However, it's awfully tricky getting the pin in. I almost gave up twice, what with the tight space.

My suggestion is take it to a professional. The LAST thing you want to do is risk breaking any other wires. That bit of pin sticking out won't hurt anything, but break a wire and you've got real problems.

Good luck. Once you've got this straightened out you'll enjoy the added control the EV switch gives you.

 

This is not a slam agains Coastal Tech, but I gave up on their EV mod and have installed an Evan-style Radio Shack button instead.

Here's my story: I got the Coastal EV mod about 2.5 months ago. Had no difficulties with delivery and it arrived in less than a week. I immediately went out to the garage in installed it. Having read some posts on PC about installation difficulties, I tested it before closing everyting back up. It didn't work. I removed the plug and got the pin in slot 27 seated a little bit further. Tested it again and it worked! Life was good.

For the next two months everything was fine and I became hooked on the judicious use of EV Mode. Until one day about two weeks ago it suddenly stopped working. I opened up the right side of the dash and checked everyting out, removed and reinserted the plug and tested it. It still didn't work. I repeated this process a couple of times until it started to work again. This of course suggest some kind of intermittant contact in one of the connections (most likely pin 27) but I always feel like I"m playing Russian Roulette whenever I mess around in that area so I just drove the car.

Three days ago it stopped working again. This time I opened everthing up and tested all the connections using a volt ohm meter. They all tested okay, but I wondered if the pin in slot 27 was in deep enough. Using a jewelers scewdriver I attemped to yet again insert it deeper. It was so deep that no metal showed above the plug and it was difficult to get it in further. No luck - the mod still didn't work.

At this point a lot of people would have called Coastal Tech for a replacement part but that would have involved removing the pin in slot 27 and inserting the new one on the replacement part. Like I said, I was reluctant to mess around in that rats nest of wires.

So, I used one of the extra wire tappers in the Coastal kit to splice into the pin 27 orange wire. While I was at it I tested it for continuity. It was fine. I then cut off the coastal mod from the wire right at the tap and disconnected the other two taps.

From this point I decided to see if simply grounding pin 27 to the white whire with a black stripe would engage EV Mode. By this time I had my 22-gage wire and installed two wire tap plugs on it. I hooked one wire to the tap on the pin 27 wire and the other on the splice the Coastal Tech mod used on the white and black ground wire. It didn't work either! Now I was sure that this was a pin 27 issue and I once again tried to reseat it. I repeated the test and this time it worked. It didn't take much additional effort to install the Radio Shack button and I like it a lot. It's nice not to have to wait the 2 seconds for EV mode to engage and I find the location to be very handy. I've enclosed a picture of the result.

In the end I think my decision to abandon the Coastal mod was more a matter of removing variables that could have been causing my problem. I'm quite ready to admit that the Radio Shack button may fail in the near future. If that happens, I will disassemble the steering wheel flasher to get a pin and replace the one in slot 27. I hope it doesn't come to that, and if it does I will try to get the right pin and the correct tool for installing it.

I think the pin installation is the Achilles Heel of this mod.