Hey,
Upon testing my blower motor, I hotwired the motor, it works. Tested the relay it works, went to fuse block, and the fuse is gone and that fuse section is melted.


Rather than try to find a new fuse panel or go with a Painless setup, I just want to pull just that circuit and put in a fuse.

How do I do that? Is it similar to an inline fuse like having an amp in a car or do I need to run a hot 12v to it. I just wanna pull the spades off the back and have the fuse mounted external.

Thanks in advance
James

 

the fuse block has a front and back. remove center bolt to seperate.
Unbolt fuse block, gently open the fuse block halves by seperating the outside tabs.
find you melted wires, cutoff burnt old clips, add in-line fuse holder, to hang outside of fuse block.
Do not just leave those live wires flopping around in your fuse box.
fuse block access is extremely painful .

 

I know. I got good pics because my body contorted to a way that I didnt know was possible.

so I'm familiar with electro mechanics but having a brain fart. Is there only one wire going to that fuse socket? Or are there 2 leads and solder them together with the inline fuse?

 

one in, one out

 

If you take out the screw and find no melted damage to the half that's in the engine compartment, you might try locating just the side (cabin) that you need and replace that. I think that would be easier than putting in an inline fuse and then when done it would be done correctly and not Bubba'd. Good luck.
Duane
P.S That inside half of the fuse box is probably used in other G.M. cars and could be easily found at a junkyard for a few bucks.

 

The power side might be a bus or wire connection where power goes past that damaged area while it's tapped for the fuse. So, it might be more complicated than just a simple in and out wire.

I'd also recommend to look for a good used fuse block. You should be able to transfer most of the the wiring and clips from the old to the new to avoid spicing wires.

 

Anyone have pics of the backside of this interior fuse panel?

I tested the socket side of the melted portion and could still get readings. I filed out the melted pieces and managed to get a fuse in there and it works. Now however, once I got to low speeds the fan kicks on but wont shut off? I pulled the connector off the resistor and it turned off. Plug it back it, still running at low with switch off.

shut car down and start it back up, the blower switch off...and it is off. So once its triggered to low, it wont turn back off when signaled until I shut off car and restart.

any ideas on that?

 

your playing with fire, do not leave that fuse block as is.
I would replace it, without doubt. once a corvette catches fire it burns to the ground.

 

Understand, but it was the plastic melted, not the fuse. The spades and connections were good and backside was intact

 

Like mentioned in post #8, you are playing with fire. If it's worth doing (which in this case it would seem that way), it's worth doing right. I would rather go through the tons of *** pain which it will be to replace the box than worry about a possible fire in the future. If you do decide to not replace the box, I would carry a fire extinguisher just in case. Corvettes burn real good once lit. There is a good reason why that box/fuse was burnt, find the short which may have been corrosion and maybe more, replace the box. BTW, what year vette? This is just my opinion.

 

The short was due to Cletus/Bubba trying to troubleshoot the blower motor. Bubba induced for sure by trying to hotwire the motor. Again, the terminals are intact and not scorched. I will take the chance now that I have this figured out. I fully hand over hand traced the circuit and its good. I also let it run for an hour last night and used my $5,000 Flir IR cam and scanned it and there's no thermals that should have me concerned. The heat signature are in line with my friends 79 as well. That is why I am not concerned.

my main concern now is why it not shutting off low speed unless I turn the car off. What would cause this to latch on? Will the resistor cause this?

 

79 L48 th350 with air

 

I was under the impression after a certain year the blower fan will always run on low speed, that is the way they designed it.

 

The fan will always run on low, it never shuts off 79-82. If you have other issues take a look at blower relay on firewall next to distributor on right.

 

Ask in the sale/wanted section here and someone will likely produce an old fuse block from a wiring harness they replaced where you then remove the wires from yours and plug them into the replacement. You get to examine the connectors closer at the same time.

 

check your homeowners insurance that it covers fire loss in the case your car combusts, replace the batteries in your smoke detectors, and go over a fire emergency exit plan with your family in event of a garage fire.

seriously, as the op have stated this is a problem waiting to get worse, parts of the fuse box are always live as long as the battery is connected, your assuming the ONLY damage to the fuse is the visible damage you can see, which is possible, but if it is a question of your or your families lives, ask if the effort is worth it? I HAVE seen a car combust in the parking lot of my shop due to faulty wireing, the car and the car next to it were a total loss, the customer had dropped it off after hours for work to be done the next day and some hours later it went up.

 

The reason why the fuse panel melted was not due to anything but a dirty fuse connection ..or one that was really loose and could not property and secure hold the fuse with thigh connection and that it could not support the amps needed to run the motor at the higher speeds before it goes into high speed mode.

PERFECT CASE in point to prove this is how many of you have had your fan blower really go bad ONLY to find out that when you unplugged the black connector from it....it was melted. And the terminals were not making good contact. Well....that is the exact same thing in what causes that connector to melt.

It was not that BUBBA did anything to it. The potential risk of fire does exist due to the OBVIOUS HEAT that is building up.

And for what this is worth. You all would be shocked in the number of Corvettes I work on that when I put my hand down on the fuses in the fuse panel ( glass type and plastic type) on how many have fuses and terminals that are HOT when that component is running and all I need to do is clean and tighten up that connection and then everything is fine..

DUB

 

I pulled all the fuse and put the back one by one. Got them all back in but three.

 

Rdo/s-band/vics 15a
rear-fog/aldl/top switch 10A

 

Wire diagrams on these fuse circuits.

RDO/S-BAND/VICS 15amp fuse

REAR/FOG/ALDL/TOP SWITCH 10amp fuse