On my drive home from college in Ames, IA to Crown Point, IN (approx. 6 hours/400 miles), my radio, clock, cig lighter, and washer fluid system all died. Everything else worked. All lights, a/c, windows, etc. were fine. I was worried it was an alternator issue, but the car never died and I made it home. I thought maybe it was a blown fuse. But then after a couple hours, everything came back on again. What would cause all this?

FYI: 1999 GLE. 160k miles.

 

loose ground maybe.

 

. good possibility. These circuits use different fuses, and I could not find much of anything common to all of these circuits except the grounds. If the problem comes back try to fix the the circuit that is the simplest and most accessible, such as the cig lighter. I would bet if you find the fault for one circuit you it will also fix the others.

 

Is that an easy thing to fix? I haven't done a whole lot of messing around with wires in my car. I don't want to make more problems for myself. What's the risk of blowing a fuse or two if I get under there and look at it?

 

No risk, just check your ground wires, inside the car under the dash and in the engine compartment, You are looking for solid black wires that have a terminal at the end where a bolt/screw runs through it and attaches to the body or frame of the car. If someone took these off and did not tighten properly or they are rusted you may have a poor ground connection. It's kind of a long shot. I'll look in my Maxima later and see when the ones in question are located, but I think inside the car by the passenger side door under the dash. Or you can try following the black wire from you cig lighter to chassis ground but that may be difficult. Anyway all totally black wires, including the negative terminal of your battery, are connected to chassis/frame ground. If this ground connection is lost a circuit(s) will not function.

 

Also while you are looking under the dash check for loose connectors, just make sure they are snapped tight. Again a long shot but does not require much time or effort.

 

Thanks Nopike. I'll check that out soon.