So, the fuse for my radio, horn, interior lights, power locks (and who knows what else) blew yesterday morning about 10 seconds after I started the engine.

So at lunch time, I replaced the fuse and all seemd fine. (I hadn't started the car, just turned on the juice)

So when I started her up to go home later in the day, again, about 10 seconds after I started her up, the fuse blew!

So, I replaced the fuse again this morning before starting her up. This time, I made it to work and shut her off and the fuse stayed in tact.

Should I expect it to blow again!?! Why would it blow twice so quickly?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

(It's rare I actually post my own problems on here, I'm usually reading others and maintaining the site. It's kinda nice to be able to post about my own troubles and get responses! )

Intermitant electrical "gremlins" are no fun. My first thought would be that there is a bit of wire exposed somewhere on that fuse circuit that is rubbing on some metal causing it to short and blow the fuse. Its fine when the car is sitting still but the vibrations of running and moving get the wire to start bumping around and cause the short. Hate to say it, but happy hunting!


Jim O.

Adam,
Oh boy, At least you car runs, I had a short a few years back in the ignition system wiring, to say the least, it was hell trying to find the short.(took me 2 weeks) I eventually found it under the drivers side dash on top of the steering column. Yes, had to take the whole console out. I must have missed that wire that the mice must have got to in the corn crib! Well good luck, hopefully yours will not be a frustrating.

Adamn, I agree with Jim. You apparently have an exposed wire that is grounding out the circuit. Did you replace anything that is tied into that circuit? Radio/lighter etc? Do the horns work?(when the fuse is good)

I was under the hood on Saturday night monkeying with the air clearner assembly and the engine idle.

I don't see how that would have disturbed any wires.

I agree Adam, shouldn't be a problem there. Make sure something didn't fall into your cig lighter. All it takes is a little piece of metal to short it out

Ok... now I'm starting to think I have Gremlins!

Check this out...

Like I said, this morning, everything was fine, and made it to work fine.

When I started her up this afternoon, the fuse blew again!! This time I took note to what else was going on at the time. It seemed to blow right after I pushed the power window buttons.

BUT, this makes no sense to me that that was the cause of the fuse blowing beause the windows are not on the curcuit that blew!

Then, it gets wierder....

So the radio is completely dead... it isn't holding station presets or anything...
So on the way home, I had the face plate off of the radio. There is a little red LED that should blink as the "Security Light." Well, I noticed this light was flickering.

This on it's own made no sense since the fuse in that curcuit is blown.

Then, just putzing arround, I noticed that if I pressed the Horn (which doesn't work), the red LED would turn off!!!??? Then when I let go of the Horn, the LED started to flicker again a few seconds later!!!???

What the hell is going on!?!

Oh, did I mention that I had to have my battery jumped after I made a stop on the way home from work? I'm thinking that it should be related, but I'm not convinced that it is. That battery was already showing signs of stuggling when I go to start the engine, before this whole fuse things started.

Help me before I go crazy!

OK Adam. Sounds like the short might be in your horn circuit. Might want to pull the cap off and check the spring, etc inside there. Might also want to check the contacts at the horns themselves too.

|UPDATED|7/25/2002 11:04:23 PM|/UPDATED|

|QUOTE|82dukman said: OK Adam. Sounds like the short might be in your horn circuit. Might want to pull the cap off and check the spring, etc inside there. Might also want to check the contacts at the horns themselves too.
|/QUOTE|

Actually, here's the thing about the Horn button...

It recently broke... what I mean by that, is one of the screws holding the metal/plastic cover broke. so it was kinda flopping around, still partly attached to the horn button frame. So I was messing with it, and the other screws broke!

The only way I could see to fix it quickly and easily was some double-sided foam tape. It worked, beause the button is very well attached to the frame.

Could this be the problem, somehow?

When you say the screws broke, did all of the pieces come out? If not, that could be grounding it out inside of there if they are flopping around inside