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fuses keep popping


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micahpa
Novice

Aug 6, 2013, 12:11 AM

Post #1 of 4 (1964 views)
fuses keep popping Sign In

1998 plymouth neon, 137,000 miles

I was driving down 95 for about 800 miles, turned on the lights as itstarted to get dark, and about 40 minutes later i noticed the interior lights for the dashboard went out, while hearing the fuse blow. i stopped at a gas station later on and changed out the fuse with the same amp capacity, as soon as i put the fuse i put hte fuse in i seen a light flash, and took the fuse out and it melted one prong of the fuse, and also blew the fuse. I tried again, this time with the car off, and dash lights off, put in fuse, and nothing, then as soon as i turned the dash lights on, the fuse blew again. I tried this maybe 4 times until i ran out of fuses. Then i just said screw it, its only the dash lights, and started driving south.

100 miles later, cars started breaking in front of me, and i the first thing i thought of was electrical problems with he tail lights. i pulled over and sure enough the tail lights were off. If i break the lights come on, if i put the 4 ways on, the lights come on, but not just the tail lights for regular driving. I found another fuse and tried again, but it blew that fuse as soon as i turned on the lights. No other fuses are blown. So i turned on the 4 ways and drove the rest of the way wit hjust the 4 ways.

so after getting to my destination i played with it a bit. This has been happening a lot with another fuse, the cig lighter fuse, but never to the interior/tail lights. And for some reason the tail lights are connected to the same fuse as the dash lights. I didnt think this was by default so i am assuming the previous owner might of rewired, or messed with the electrical system a bit, not sure.

Now the weird thing is the cig lighter is right next to the dash lights in the fuse box. So i figured maybe there is a foriegn object in there thats metal, connecting two terminals together that shouldnt, and maybe a burned wirer or something, i checked but its so compacted, i could not see anythign abnormal near the fuse box.

I called someone, and they said it could be a short in the wires, somewhere. Now currently i am on my honeymoon, and i dont want to spend the cash to fix the car at a garage, i would rather rig it to work quickly and get home. Otherwise, we were just planning to avoid driving during the night, until we get home and fix it then.

I was wondering what other options i have for a quick fix, or diagnosis for why this might occur?
Thank you for your time.

EDIT:
the fuse size is 15A, i put in a 10 and it blew, i also put in a 25 and it blew, and it blew 4 15A ones.

EDIT 2:
before i left, i noticed the front turn light bulb was out of its socket, and just lying in the light case, as my turn signals were flashing twice as fast, i put hte bulb back in its socket, and the turn signals, stopping flashing faster than normal. I am not sure if this is relevant, but i figured i would give as much info needed regarding recent things electrical.


(This post was edited by micahpa on Aug 6, 2013, 12:22 AM)


micahpa
Novice

Aug 6, 2013, 12:58 AM

Post #2 of 4 (1944 views)
Re: fuses keep popping Sign In

i beleive i might of found the gremlin. I was googling for a bit and came across some solutions, 1) oversized bulb, wire short, or bare illumination stereo wire. And sure enough it was the bare illumination wire. I wire capped it, and the tail lights/dash lights stayed on. So hopefully that was the problem. I also saw a bare section of wire of the hot to the cig lighter, so i figured that could be tthe culprit, so i electrical taped around that. So maybe these were the gremlins. Luckily it wasnt something else, easy access, and fix.


Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Hammer Time profile image

Aug 6, 2013, 2:48 AM

Post #3 of 4 (1932 views)
Re: fuses keep popping Sign In


Quote
the fuse size is 15A, i put in a 10 and it blew, i also put in a 25 and it blew,


I suggest you start carrying a fire extinguisher if you're going to do that.



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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Tom Greenleaf profile image

Aug 6, 2013, 5:02 AM

Post #4 of 4 (1927 views)
Re: fuses keep popping Sign In

I think I can see the ride home from that honeymoon............alone,



Never overfuse,

T







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