In the middle of cooking yesterday, the grill just shut down. I ran to the garage to reset the GFCI (I had been washing windows earlier so I could have gotten something wet), only the GFCI wasn't tripped. Just to be sure, I tried plugging in to an outlet in the house that I knew was working, still nothing. I cursed and rushed the chicken breasts over to the gas grill to finish them off.

This morning I took the side panel off and found a fuse. Pulled it out and it looked fine. Got the voltage tester out and checked it, put it back, plugged in and started checking for power, figuring that I was going to have to replace the controller. I tried to see where the wires came and went, but I could not read any voltage. Checked right where the power came in, still no voltage. Then I realized that the cord wasn't hardwired in, it was a computer style cord that plugged in to the bottom of the unit. It had come loose enough to break the connection but not enough to completely fall out. Plugged it back in and everything is fine.

The offending cord.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

Good info, thank you!

 Had the same thing happen on my Memphis... Being a Mr Gadget type, I added a strain relief to the cord for two reasons: Didn't want the cord to unplug or cause damaged. The damage would be caused by a radial/sideways pull on the cord that might damage it 

 and/or the receptacle.

Mine has come out a time or two, but never during a cook.

I wonder if you could just plug the extension cord right into the socket on the grill.

I wonder if you could just plug the extension cord right into the socket on the grill.

It uses this type of connector. Pin size and placement is a little bit different than an extension cord.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

Dad had a Service station when I was growing up (anyone remember those?). It was right between home and school (a little closer to school).
I would leave early and help him open up for the day. Mind you, I was about 9 or 10 years old. I'd count the cash in the till and make a note of the amount, clean the restrooms and restock the essentials. Good thing he had coffee ready when I got there. Then another stop on the way home. I worked the full service island. I pumped gas, checked liquid levels and topped them off free of charge. Who does that nowadays? But I digress...

Probably the most important thing he ever taught me was to start at the most simple/least expensive possible solution. Car won't start? What's it do exactly? Does the key just turn? Does it make a clicking noise and nothing? Check the power source/battery. Leads all gunked up and corroded? Does it have any water in it? If everything looks good, check the fuse panel next. I think y'all get the idea.

My 1st Kia developed a problem with dying at an idle. It was right under the 5 yr warranty period so I put it in the shop. The 'service techs' hooked it up to everything in the shop and failed to find anything wrong. I was however chastised for the varnish buildup and told to change the oil more often. Dusk was approaching when I picked the car up and I wheeled out of the lot. The next light I stopped at, I turned on the wipers as is was starting to rain. The rpms dropped a tad, but no biggie. A few lights later, I turned on the headlights and the rpm's dropped to the stall point and I goosed the gas to keep the car running. I then pulled into a parking lot and did a little diagnostics of my more simple days gone by. All electrics off. Car runs fine at idle. Turn on the wipers - rpm drops. Turn on lights and car dies. Let's try this again. Start car, turn on lights. Car barely runs withought assistance. Add wiper? Boom!

I was able to get home and checked the fluid level in the battery. Fluid level? We don't need no stinking fluid!  I had no distilled water so I added tap, and it was enough to get me to Sears and have a new battery installed the next day.

Sorry for being long winded, but my teachings from 50 years ago still ring true to this day. As evidenced by dclord and this thread; the KISS principal is alive and well. Tens of thousands of dollars of KIA testing equipment, and the latest greatest technicians couldn't tell me my battery was low on water.  Thanks Dad!

Aim small - miss small. 

Bobitis' story reminded me of one of my own...  Years ago, myself and another guy I work with went to fix a piece of network get on a large college campus. Both he and I had a pretty good amount of experience and were both IMHO about as good at troubleshooting as anyone I knew at the time.  These machines were built in house , were very unique and could be tricky to troubleshoot, especially back in this time period, because we didn't have nearly as much high tech test stuff...  So anyway, he and I spent hours looking at various potential problems, the space was cramped and we were trying to work on this thing without taking it down completely, so we were being very cautious as we worked.  I think we were there at least 4 hours trying to solve this problem.    For some reason... we had never considered that it might be the network cable , but that's what it was...    If we had started with the cable, the job would have taken 10 minutes to confirm, and maybe another 10 minutes to replace and secure in cable trays, etc...  After that, cables were pretty much the first thing I'd consider as being the problem

We have all done something like this in our life. In college, I traced a coolant leak back to a certain point on the water pump near where the pulley / impeller goes through the housing. That is where the coolant leak originated, or so I thought. After replacing the water pump the new one leaked from the exact same spot. After further inspection, I had a pin hole leak in the radiator hose that shot coolant to that spot on the pump. I wasted a lot of time and $$$ that a full time college student who also worked a full time job did not have much extra of...