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2000, Toyota Yaris fuse blowing


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JethroDee
New User

Feb 7, 2013, 3:46 AM

Post #1 of 3 (4548 views)
2000, Toyota Yaris fuse blowing Sign In

Firstly, sorry for the long post, but I want to give as much info as possible in the hope that someone might be able to advise. I should point out that I'm not a mechanic so my knowledge of the workings of cars is limited. I'm in the UK (hopefully not a problem!)

I have a Toyota Yaris (Verso, X-reg, 2000) and have been having a problem with the AM2 15a fuse blowing. When it goes the engine completely cuts out. When I change the blown fuse the engine will re-start, though on occasion the fuse has then blown again soon after. This is a fairly intermittent fault, it's happened perhaps seven or eight times in four and a half months. I use the car for a daily commute of about 25 miles, mostly motorway.

I noticed that this happens more often when I am turning a sharp corner (it's happened a few times on roundabouts) and also seems to happen more often if I have been driving for over half an hour, though not always so this could be a red herring. I'm aware that when I go round sharp corners, the combination of braking, clutch down to change gear, etc. means that the engine revs drop right down and I wonder if this is the problem - is it perhaps stalling and that is for some reason blowing the fuse? To counter this possibility I've been doing my best to keep the revs up in the type of scenarios where it would usually blow, but this can be tricky at times!

Recently the fuse blew as I pulled away from the curb after finishing work for the day, so the car had been parked for several hours. I changed the fuse and it blew again when I got to a roundabout. I quickly changed the fuse, turned on the engine and it blew again (steering wheel was turned right as I was half way around the roundabout when it blew). As I was changing the fuse again two helpful builders pushed me off the roundabout to safety. When I finished changing the fuse again I was able to get home with no problems.

The next morning I carried out a test - I started the engine and while stationary I turned the wheel hard right and then hard left and the fuse blew immediately.

I had an auto electrician have a look at it and after an hour (and the associated fees) he was unable to find anything. We took it out for a drive and nothing, I just couldn't get the fuse to blow again. He connected his diagnostic tool and there were no faults found. He had a good look at the wiring and could find nothing to suggest a short or any frayed or loose wires etc. Two days later, just as I turned into my road after the drive home from work, the fuse blew again.

One thing that's occurred to me is that a little while back I had my coil packs and spark plugs replaced, just under three months before the fuse blew the first time. I suppose that could be related, but I'm pretty sure the auto electrician had a look at the plugs. I've had a look myself and although I'm no mechanic I could see nothing at all that would suggest an obvious problem.

From the user manual the AM2 fuse relates to: Starter system, SRS airbag system, multiport fuel injection system/sequential multiport fuel injection system, discharge warning system.

Can anyone suggest any possible causes of the problem? Is a faulty coil pack a likely cause worth investigating? Should I have a look at increasing idle speed of the engine?

I should point out that my local garage are good and trustworthy. When I mentioned this problem to them they said they'd be happy to have a look but as it sounds like an electrical fault it would be worth going to an autoelectrician first. I've not been able to get the car to them yet though I'm planning to soon, hopefully with some pointers from here!

Thanks in advance for any advice.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Feb 7, 2013, 4:17 AM

Post #2 of 3 (4523 views)
Re: 2000, Toyota Yaris fuse blowing Sign In

There isn't much question that you have some sort of intermittent short that is blowing the fuses. Something like that can be very difficult to find but the fact that turning the wheel can trigger it can be very helpful. I would suspect that there are bare wires somewhere that are making contact with ground when something shifts position from the movement of turning the wheels.



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JethroDee
New User

Feb 7, 2013, 5:20 AM

Post #3 of 3 (4510 views)
Re: 2000, Toyota Yaris fuse blowing Sign In

Thanks for the quick reply Hammer Time, a short was my gut feeling. It's dissapointing that the auto-electrician couldn't find anything, though I di understand that intermittent faults are hard work to pin down, especially if you can't get the fault to acctually happen when you want it to!

I guess I'll need to get my mechanic to have a good look to see if he can find anything missed by the other guy.






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