Hey Guys,

Has anybody done this? I am about to attempt but could sure use some pointers from those who have accomplished this feat.

My intention is to route the smart power cable from my new Escort 8500 detector and mount the little mute/alert/power thing in the upper right corner, between finish panel and dashboard.

From the attached sheet, it appears that it pulls straight up but it does mention the retaining clips and was hoping somebody has performed this operation.

Thanks for any input!

 

If memory serves (and I have a terrible short term memory), you just grab it by the rings and give it a good tug toward you, it'll pop loose

 

That is all it takes, a firm pull and it is off-make sure wheel is tilted all the way down-place a towel on the top of the column cover to protect it from possible damage.

 

OK guys...I will give it a shot...Here goes!

 

That was too easy... I may just do that when cleaning! Thanks guys!

There was plenty of room to route cable under cover and have the smart thingy end up right where I wanted it! Very clean!

Now all I need is to find a switched PS point under drivers dash and I will be good to go!

 

Pretty much all of the interior pieces are that easy to remove on these cars. As for a power source , I would be careful splicing into any wires on the instrument panel. The computers on these cars are very sensitive to any change in the circuits and will sometimes do some weird things. I would run a line over to the fuse panel on the passengers side and use an add a circuit ...

 

There was a big wad of wires on the drivers side wall. I just started cutting and found one that seemed to work... Of course, there are numerous other things that don't work now, plus it won't start anymore so I think I have other problems now...

The display got REALLY bright then went out...do you think that is ok? (Oh, sorry, I meant the Radar Detector Display. The main console display never lit at all...hmmm)

 

I assume from all the smiley faces that you're trying to be humorous ... I and several other members on this forum have had problems and I was just trying to be helpful ...

 

Well, brother yellow, yes I was trying to be humorous... Let's hope none of our other members will start hacking at wires on their pony without determining what is what first...

Given that I agree with Steve's response, it is only fair I finish my project writeup that I first requested help on. I considered the advice suggested, and would agree that routing to the fusebox would be the safest and most recommended method, although it would have meant adding additional length to my power wire and providing an "add a circuit". I researched other threads for under dash switched power and the only one that came up was a red wire that was above the brake pedal. In that post, it did not say if it was on a manual or auto, and when looking, I could see no red wire above my brake so I had to rethink my issue...

About 6 months ago, I installed a sub and amp in my trunk. Instead of wiring on/off button directly to my stock skipper 500, I simply chose to route the on/off connection to a SPDT switch mounted near the cup holder. This way, I could switch sub off if an officer of the law chose to get beside me at a stoplight without turning off the tunes or rattling his teeth. It has a cool green LED and is nice to show people the difference from powered sub to unpowered as well.

When this was wired, I installed a terminal strip in the center console that had UNswitched power, found in center glove box power point. There was just enogh cable from the detector to reach this terminal strip so that is what I used. While unswitched, the detector itself has the volume/power wheel that can be used to turn unit on/off although a bit of a pain. Not the best solution but was the path of least resistance...

I follow the old adage...measure twice (with a voltmeter, in this case), cut once...