First off, I sincerely regret and wish to apologize for the way I responded to your initial post. Not to excuse myself, but I was in a bad mood already for several other reasons when I read your post. I took offense at the way you interpreted my first post when the real problem was my indistinct communication with you and the other forum members. Typically, I write in a very detailed and complete manner, so that post was out of character for me. I wrote it last Saturday very quickly and briefly, trying to elicit a quick response from y'all so that I could hopefully fix our truck's 12-volt outlet that day. The ironic thing is that I ended up not having enough time that day to even work on it at all. With that brief, unclear post, I was taking the forum members' knowledge for granted, hoping they would respond with good ideas despite my indistinct communication. For that, I also apologize to everyone here.
It's pretty hard to assess a person's knowledge level other than the way they pose a question. No insult intended.
A novice on their own is better served by having someone who knows what they are doing rather than creating a worse problem.
Agreed. None taken (now...). Technically, I am still very much a novice concerning the diagnosis of vehicle problems. However, compared to my level of knowledge 3 years ago, I do know much more now about vehicle repair, maintenance, and problem diagnosis than I did then. But I still don't know very much in the big scheme of things. That's why I strongly rely on other people who are more knowledgeable than me on these topics. For example, I have a friend who's a Subaru Master Mechanic (he's been a mechanic for over 20 years). He's been an invaluable source of Subaru-related information. I can't even tell you how many times I've texted him with questions about both of my 2004 Subaru Foresters (Sylvia and Gemma). I've learned so much from him about Subarus. Second, I do have a friend who can best be described as a 'savant' with vehicle issue diagnosis. He's also been an invaluable source for helping me figure out things about our 2001 VW Beetle and our 1994 Chevrolet K1500 Silverado Z71.
Well, that's your first step... So basically you did absolutely nothing other than complain. That sounded pretty novice to me. Thus my response.
There is usually a map inside or near the fuse pocket.. if not you can probably find one in the back of the owners manual.
I did know that I should check the fuse first. I just hadn't done that yet. You're right; my initial post did come across as only a complaint. That's certainly not the way I intended for it to come across; however, due to my incompleteness of communication, that's exactly the way it sounded. Thank you for sharing those details with me about checking the fuse.
Regardless of a person's experience, without a wiring diagram, no one would know what to check. There are more than a few circuits under the hood.
You're absolutely right on that. Taken as a whole, vehicle wiring is extremely complicated.
How nice for you.
I guess I should have said, have your father see if he can fix the problem or if not, have your friend look at it, since he's an expert...
Maybe you could enlighten the forum with "some really good ideas on how to figure out what's wrong with our truck's 12-volt outlet".
My father does know more than I about electrical stuff and wiring that I do, but he doesn't know much about vehicles.
Let me see if I can recall what my friend said...
First, he asked if I had checked the fuse.
Second, he told me how to use a voltmeter to see if the outlet itself was the problem, or if the power supply was the problem. He said to touch the negative tip to a grounding source (something metal near the outlet), then touch the positive tip to the terminal on the inside of the outlet, at the bottom of it. He then said that there's a place to perform the same procedure at the rear of the outlet, up under the dashboard. If the outlet has power where the wires connect it to the power source, but not inside it, then the outlet itself is bad and should be replaced.
Third, he told me something about checking wiring under the hood, but I don't remember those details anymore.
