Continually blowing CTSY/CLK Fuse
 

Yesterday in traffic everything in the middle of the dash cut power, radio went dead, C68 dead, lights, etc. Figured I blew a fuse from age so I tried replacing, well the fuse blows immediately when I put in a new fuse, meaning something shorted to ground somewhere. I unplugged the battery, put in a new one, just to make sure I wasnt shorting it out since its hot at all times, and shortly after starting the car it pops again.

And the CTSY fuse basically powers everything and I don't know where to start looking.

Head unit is aftermarket Kenwood as are all the speakers, and the head unit has been acting up since I replaced the power antenna. But that was the only thing I touched, and its relay is powered off the Radio fuse and CTSY fuse? The head unit seems to cut off its power intermittently and power back on (display goes blank and then restarts), and the sound plays all the while so if youre not paying attention you wouldnt notice it. Now its dead totally.

Can someone to point me to some failure points when I start taking the dash apart?

I don't have diagram but cigar lighter is on that fuse on multiple GM models.

I would pull the Radio Fuse, next would be to disconnect the antenna relay. Good luck.

It's tough to chase down this kind of problem, because you need a bucket full of fuses! If you'd rather not use the "bucket" technique, here's how I do it: Connect two wires to an old, but good headlight. Solder a burned out fuse to these wires. Plug this gadget into the offending fuse location. If you have a short, the light will shine, but nothing will smoke! If you don't have a problem, everything will work as normal.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2993c09581.jpg

To work through your problem, you could add a toggle switch to a circuit breaker like in the first row of the fuse block. Plug it in and if it trips, turn the switch off so the circuit breaker resets and turn it back on. Obviously this is only for while tracking down your issue but it will save potentially many blown fuses.

Is there not a tester that I could plug into the fuse that has such a light on it?

Make sure a penny didn't fall into the cigarette lighter port.

:iagree:

My 86 had a bad cig-lighter. There are plastic parts involved. If it has been blowing fuses with the key off this is what I'd suspect since the cig-lighter is always on.

my 87 was shorting the same fuse. it was the 12v cig lighter port. it had been rotated and the +'ve was touching the -'ve. this was before i had any automotive experience and i discovered it by unplugging it and the fuse stopped blowing.

then i plugged it in hot and it blew in real time. i then googled pics of how they are supposed to look and realized it had been rotated.