I went ahead and made my own hardwire cord out of a telephone cable I had laying around for my X50. It worked great for about 2 days. I had it connected to my fuse box's Accessory fuse, which is, obviously, the 10amp dvc connector right under the glove box's fuse and had the cable grounded above the sun visor on an unpainted chassis screw. When I was driving home one day, I looked up and noticed it was off.

I checked the fuse and it was fine. I plugged in my original cigarette lighter cable and the escort turned on just fine. I then tried a brand new telephone cable and got the same result. Nothing worked I don't understand why it would work great for 2 days with my hardwire cable, then stop working, and never work again. The fuse is fine, and nothing changed with the ground, and two cables give the same results.

Could anyone help me figure this problem out? I'm trying to avoid using the little adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter so basically I'm not using the yellow/green wires. Only positive and ground.

Thanks!

 

sounds like a connection is broken somewhere. (obviously)

try changing the fuse even though it looks fine... maybe give us a bit more detail on what and how you wired this up?

we should be able to figure it out.

 

I haven't replaced the fuse, but the cigarette lighter works fine (which runs off the same fuse I'm hardwiring to) so I'm assuming it's okay. If even then you think I should change it, I will.

I'm taking just regular telephone cable, cutting off the non-correct end, splicing the 4 pieces apart, and stripping the black (ground) and red (positive). The red goes down to the accessory fuse and the ground is screwed in along top the sun visors.

Do you think the fuse should be replaced even though the cigarette lighter is working?

 

Huh? Usually "splicing" goes with "together".

Anyway, perhaps that ground on the window frame isn't solid. There's a true one down by the DC taps under the dash, one that's used by a number of other circuits. HPH

 

if your hardwire isn't fused between the splice and the detector, then no -- you should not have to replace the fuse.

and yeah, it now sounds like you should suspect the ground.


this is what i would do:

if you own a multi-meter (if you don't, consider buying one, they can be had relatively cheaply $10 for a basic model)
measure the resistance of both the positive and ground wires - measuring between the phone plug (a sharp tip can be gently pushed into contact) and the ends where your wires splice in or terminate.

report back what you're reading, and we should be able to help you.

if you read anything much larger than say... 1 ohm, you should be concerned.

 

Did you use a connector on the ground or the on the power wire? Make sure you got a good connecction from the wire to the connector.