Electrical Shorts are the SUCK
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 2,602
Likes: 5
From: Al.
St. Jude Donor '06-'10-'11
Electrical Shorts are the SUCK
You my remember my question about which fuse handles the interior dash back lighting. Someone pointed me to the #8 10amp fuse in the under hood fuse bank. That was the correct fuse but unfortunatly a short in the line keeps blowing the fuse. My cay was at the dealer most of last week and went back today to continue troubleshooting. The lights that are affected are parking lights,sidemarkers,tail lights and back lighting of the interior radio,ac controls,options pod and the shifter position lights.
Has anyone else run into this type of problem. It's very frustrating. I had the car back for the weekend and put a 20 amp fuse in. Turned on the parking lights and they stayed on for about 5 sec. If I could put a penny in there I'd try that!! J/K
ANY ideas?
TIA
Kelly
Has anyone else run into this type of problem. It's very frustrating. I had the car back for the weekend and put a 20 amp fuse in. Turned on the parking lights and they stayed on for about 5 sec. If I could put a penny in there I'd try that!! J/K
ANY ideas?
TIA
Kelly
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 3,488
Likes: 27
From: Long Island NY
Yes, shorts can be tricky to find. With a light system (that includes external lights such as the parking lights, etc), could be anything from a bad defective bulb to a bad or dirty bulb socket to pinched / chafed wires leading to the sockets, etc... take a meter and check all these things (because it's not hard to do). If you're lucky, you'll find the problem. If not, at least you've ruled out a bunch of things.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 27,420
Likes: 64
From: San Clemente CA
You my remember my question about which fuse handles the interior dash back lighting. Someone pointed me to the #8 10amp fuse in the under hood fuse bank. That was the correct fuse but unfortunatly a short in the line keeps blowing the fuse. My cay was at the dealer most of last week and went back today to continue troubleshooting. The lights that are affected are parking lights,sidemarkers,tail lights and back lighting of the interior radio,ac controls,options pod and the shifter position lights.
Has anyone else run into this type of problem. It's very frustrating. I had the car back for the weekend and put a 20 amp fuse in. Turned on the parking lights and they stayed on for about 5 sec. If I could put a penny in there I'd try that!! J/K
ANY ideas?
TIA
Kelly
Has anyone else run into this type of problem. It's very frustrating. I had the car back for the weekend and put a 20 amp fuse in. Turned on the parking lights and they stayed on for about 5 sec. If I could put a penny in there I'd try that!! J/K
ANY ideas?
TIA
Kelly
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 2,602
Likes: 5
From: Al.
St. Jude Donor '06-'10-'11
Advanced
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
That's an effective way to find your problem. Put that penny in and just watch for the source of the smoke you'll see shortly thereafter. Keep the fire extinguisher handy, and have your cell phone predialed to 911.
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Verdad Gallardo
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,563
Likes: 2
From: Dallas Tx
The way I find tough shorts in complicated circuits is put an inline fuse, same amperage as the original circuit, in each branch. Then put a slightly higher fuse back in the fuse block. Say, put a 15 back in the box and 10s inline in all the branches. In the wiring diagram, put the inline fuse right after where that wire branches off.
A little higher amp fuse wont hurt anything while doing the diagnosis, a short will blow just about any amp fuse. You want a hair less amp fuse in the branches so that fuse blows first.
Then operate everything on that main circuit and see which of the new inline fuses blows. That will point you in the direction of the short.
Or, back in the 60's we used to plug the car into 110 house voltage and see where the smoke is coming from. Not recommended for todays cars.
A little higher amp fuse wont hurt anything while doing the diagnosis, a short will blow just about any amp fuse. You want a hair less amp fuse in the branches so that fuse blows first.
Then operate everything on that main circuit and see which of the new inline fuses blows. That will point you in the direction of the short.
Or, back in the 60's we used to plug the car into 110 house voltage and see where the smoke is coming from. Not recommended for todays cars.