Fusible link blowing out, battery draining

[Kitty]

Hi guys! Life's been screwed up still and I haven't been back to visit in too long. And on top of everything else going on right now, my poor Marvin is acting up.

Marvin is a '93 Festiva with manual transmission. Recently his battery went dead and he burned out his 30 Amp fusible link. In the maddening effort to find a replacement what I ended up doing was putting in these fusible link wires that had fuse sockets on them so now instead of burning out the whole wire, it blows the fuse.

Which it has been doing with great, gleeful abandon. I have replaced the battery. I have had the alternator tested and it came back with a clean bill of health. When the car sits for two or three days the battery drains and if I try to start it and drive anywhere, that is when the fuse blows. If I can get some charge into the battery then let the car sit at a low idle for about 15 minutes or so, then I have no problem... until I let the car sit longer than overnight.

I've been out of work for a month now and start a new temp position on Monday but it doesn't pay very much. I'm hoping this is a problem I can take care of without having to haul it in to a mechanic (which I have no money for right now).

Nobody else seems able to give me any decent information so I figured since you guys are the best I'd beg for information here.

Thanks.

[anomoly40]

sounds like you might have a short

[Pu241]

PM sent

[Kitty]

Someone else had suggested that it might be a short previously but where would I begin looking? Could it be anything that is connected to the electrical system? I'm just so frustrated right now I'm about to pull my hair out.

[philiow313]

get a test light, and disconnect your negative cable. connect one end of the test light to the cable and touch the other to the battery terminal. if it lights up youve got a draw, which will definetly discharge your battery. pull fuses until the light goes out. when you find the fuse that causes it to go out, there is the system with the problem, then you will have to trace it out to find your short/ bad component causing the draw.

hopefully ive explained that well enough. i do it in my head at work all the time but writing it down enver seems to come out right.

[Kitty]

Thanks! I'll give that a try.

You guys are the absolute best. *HUGS*

[Pu241]

I concur with philiow313!

But you might want to start with the fusible links first!
Same as philiow313 suggests in setting up the test/trouble light but pull the fusible links one at a time and if the light goes out tell us which one.
We have schematics of the wiring harness and should be able to narrow the short down.
I'm assuming the fusible links come before the fuse box.
Guess I need to check on that.

Worst will be a short in the harness itself unrelated to a fan motor/light/etc.
then its just grunt work checking the harness for a cut or abrasion somewhere along its length!

[Kitty]

Okay, I'll try that tomorrow. I have to stop and get a Maxi fuse setup to replace what I put in. Hubby did some resarch today and found out we need to use the bigger ones. While I'm doing that I'm going to get a test light too. For the time being I'm disconnecting the battery while the car is parked. We charged the battery today and then started it and let it idle and the fuse didn't blow, so I'm hoping that if disconnect the battery it will be good enough to get me through my first day of work.

Thanks so much for all the information! I'll come back with updates and if we find a solution I'll post that too!

[Pu241]

OK, after looking over the official Ford festiva "Electrical and Vacuum troubling shooting manual", it appears that the fusible links under the hood are completely separate from the fuses in the fuse panel inside the passenger compartment.
So you have to do both; pull fusible links and pull fuses till the trouble/test light goes out!
It also says the EGI and Head fusible links should be Brown and 15 amp each and the Main should be Black 35A.
The fusible cartridges I run are 20Amps (Pink) and 40Amp (Green) and have had no electrical issue with using them, FWIW!

[Pu241]

OK here's a pic of the fusable cartriages:

http://tinyurl.com/367frs

[Kitty]

Ah! I was wondering what the cartridge you were talking about was. Thanks! I did get my test light today and since nobody carries the Maxi fuse setup around these parts, I'll give the cartridges a try. If you're using it and it works, thats good enough for me.

Now to find the short. Wish me luck.

[nattyphysicist]

Ah! I was wondering what the cartridge you were talking about was. Thanks! I did get my test light today and since nobody carries the Maxi fuse setup around these parts, I'll give the cartridges a try. If you're using it and it works, thats good enough for me.

Now to find the short. Wish me luck.

I think you have 2 separate problems here, one is a short or load somewhere and the other is that your fusible link blows when you start the car with a partially discharged battery.

I have the second problem in my car and it's not the alternator, battery, or wire harness. I found that as long as the battery is fully charged, I have no problems. If the battery is run down, then I may be able to start the car, but the fusible link will blow, meaning that something on that circuit is drawing more than 35 Amps. But it doesn't happen when the battery is charged, so maybe it's a combination of the starter and charging a low battery at the same time.

What I'd like to know is what is the source of this problem and does it ail all Festivas?

Once you fix you first problem, you shouldn't have the second one as long as you keep your battery charged, ie don't leave your lights on.

Nat

[Pu241]

Kitty,
Cartridages on their way 2 Day UPS!
Should be there Thursday!
We need an update!

[Kitty]

You're the best, John! *HUGS*

And yes, Nat. I'm well aware of the fact that I have two problems going on here. Still no sign of the short. I've had to turn it over to a mechanic to see if he can find it. I couldn't get the stinking light to EVER go out! Fortunately the gentleman I work with runs a training institute so his prices are very affordable.

*sigh* I think Marvin just wanted extra attention. And of course he had to do this my first week at work.

[Kitty]

Okay guys, update as of this afternoon. The mechanic found the short. I didn't get to talk to him so I don't know *specifically* what is shorting. What he told my fiance' was "somewhere behind the instrument panel where the speedometer and all are". *sigh* He was calling junkyards to try to find a used part. Next time I get to talk to him I will try to find out specifically what part is shorting.