Last night I returned home shortly after 9 pm. I pulled into my garage and pressed the button to turn my car off. The engine turned off, but everything went off with it; headlights, interior lights, door lock/unlock, etc.. Before I go out there in the cold (it is a separate, unheated garage and I live in Fargo, ND), can any of you electrical types tell me what fuse or fuses are likely to have blown when I pressed the "Start" button to turn the car off? I do have a layout of the fuseboxes, but I see several that might be the culprit. Also, has anyone seen this behavior before? My (2014 Tech) car has 165K miles (50K of them are mine), and I have never seen anything like this.

Thanks.

RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen
--
Police officer: there s a dead body in your basement.
Schrodinger, sighing: Well, there is now.

 

Interestingly, when I went out to my car yesterday to begin diagnosing this problem, it was still there when I opened the door -- no lights came on in the interior, and the door could not be locked with the door switch or the key fob. But I sat down and pressed the brake and pushed the "Start" button anyway. And just like that, everything worked. It reset some of my electronics, and asked for a code (which the screen told me could be 'bypassed' by holding the power button of the entertainment system down. But I had not lost my programmed radio stations. It reset my current tankful's miles and mpg information (as if I had refilled the tank). But everything worked, and I did not have to replace any fuses. Very odd.


RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen
--
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich. -- Tao Te Ching

 

Sounds like a loose/intermittent connection somewhere. First thing I would check is the battery terminal cable connections, and the battery.

 

Because of the way it happened, I don't think so. But it's surely a good idea to check connections anyway, and I will. Thanks, Jim.


RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen
--
A metaphor is like a simile.

 

How old is your battery? When I hear about electrical gremlins like that, I lean towards a bad battery first and would go through testing just to eliminate it.

 

The negative hook up on the battery cable, has a sensor built in the may have a factor with what happened here. Don't know what would happen if the sensor went south. Would it cut power from the bat ? Just noodling .

 

Good thought, Alex, but it is only about 18 months old, and has never hesitated to start the car, even in North Dakota cold.


RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen
--
Attila the Nun - a simple girl pledged to a life of violence.

 

Ah! That is a thing I will look at; whatever it was, it was related to me pushing the "Start" button; perhaps with my glove on, I accidently pushed it twice quickly, not feeling it depress all the way the first time. And when I tried again the next morning, the power was still absent; neither the interior lights (as well as the headlights) did not come on when I opened the door, but everything (lights, starter, etc., worked when I pushed the "Start" button. So something like a sensor that might have electrically reset is a possibility!

RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen
--
"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear." -- Thomas Jefferson