Blown Main Fusible Link

[SimonTuffGuy]

I was leaving the rest stop from meeting Jim (FB71) and got on it pretty hard to beat some traffic. Shortly after, I realized that my "Charge battery" light was on. This happened once before a few months ago on my way home from NY. I knew it right away because the gauges started acting up.

I got to where we were going and put a spare fuse in that I had (I'm using the PAL 30A female terminal fuses instead of the links) and the car started up, light buzzer sounded, etc. Left from there and started heading home and at the next stop sign when I pulled out, the same thing happened and it blew again.

When the car is shut off after it blows, nothing works. Won't start, no buzzer warnings, etc. The headlights work (different fuse of course) and that's about it. However, if the car is running when it blows, stuff continues working until the car is turned off... So I drove a good 30 miles with headlights, the cd player, interior lights, etc all working.

What would cause the fuse to blow? Think a major wire is just grounding out somewhere causing it to blow? Maybe when I got on it, the engine kicked around a little bit and put a wire to ground or something?

Let me know suggestions. I don't want to buy a ton of fuses because they're expensive! (Found a lot of 10 on EBay for under $10, so I may go that route)...

Thanks.

[scitzz]

Re: Blown Main Fusible Link

What would cause the fuse to blow? Think a major wire is just grounding out somewhere causing it to blow? Maybe when I got on it, the engine kicked around a little bit and put a wire to ground or something?


Thanks.

I would have to guess that is right, and I do mean guess! I hate electrical problems, was never much good at those things, but post if you figger her out, it will be something for the rest of us to look out for, but I am sure I don't have to tell you that ! :lol:

[Maxtiva]

I hope you will be able to find the problem soon.

[jglutz]

What fusible link did you replace with the fuse....it will be alot easier to diagnose know which one.

Number 1 JY rule.....take all the fuses and relays and lamps you can get your hands on!

[scitzz]

If you can find em, heck yeah! I always seem to get there too late though

[hot4dl8ly]

Blown Main fuse link

I found an old TSB on aldata (92-22-2) for 88-92 Festiva's, to replace the 25A main fuse link with a 35A "due to higher than 25A charging rate". It also says to install a small piece of convolute tubing over th harness going to the ignition coil (a few inches long? my best guess from the drawing). It lists an old part number for the kit-F2BZ 14526 A, I would be surprised if it were still available. I hope this helps.

[jglutz]

If it the 30amp fuse is larger than the other two fusible links....the problem is the battery....a blown cell or something....measure the battery voltage with a voltmeter while the car is off...should be 12.4-12.6VDC.

Besides the battery...for something else to draw 30amps or more...you would have notices alot of eletrical (smoke and heat) damage either in the key switch circuit or alt it self....chack the battery.

[festivaWES]

A while back i was changing a alternator in my festiva and forgot to take the posts off of the battery, the power wire from the alt hit the fre wall and blew the main fuse. Might want to trace back the alt wire and see if it is grounding out on the block or something...

[SimonTuffGuy]

jglutz - If it were a problem with the battery, wouldn't it be happening every time I drove my car? I pulled the car out 2 weeks ago and must've driven it 10 of the 14 days and yesterday was the first time I had the problem.

The battery is an Optima Red top that is probably... 4 years old? So, it may be getting time for a replacement, but it hardly seems that would be causing this? I'll check the volts on that here this morning and post the results.

Wes - I think it may be something similar to that... Not that the alternator wires would be touching anywhere... But I think I have a stray ground wire hanging down that I never reconnected when I was done with my tranny install. The PO had a ground wire kit installed on the engine and there was one bolt that I lost somewhere and never replaced it yet (it was sitting for the winter anyways). At any rate, I am thinking that maybe my big acceleration made that wire go somewhere where it shouldn't have, like maybe up by the starter wire or something like that? I'll check on it shortly to see what I can find...

[SimonTuffGuy]

I will mention that I did wire this entire engine bay myself. The PO had a hacked in wiring harness that didn't function properly (for anyone that remembers when I picked up the car)... So I swapped in a full harness out of my uncles parts car to make the thing run. I was very careful about putting the pieces though, adding the additional BP wires, taping everything back up so that nothing was left uncovered and what not.

And as for the junkyard pieces... I guess that's my next stop once I replace the fuse. They're pretty easy to grab there, I just never think about it while I'm there. I also need to pull some of the harness for the O2 wire and I want to figure out a way to do my windshield squirters like they are on a Grand Am (and spray off the wipers themselves instead of the nozzle on the hood)...

[SimonTuffGuy]

Volts at the battery in the back were 11.27 off the post. That was with freezing temperatures here this morning.

Looked in the engine bay, but didn't really see anything that would be hitting and causing something to blow. I did see a couple wires that could have been the cause I guess? The way the fan is wired up is a little ghetto, but it wasn't touching anything that would've made something blow.

Guess we're back to the drawing board until I get a new fuse and see what happens.

[phantorn]

The part # f2bz-14526-a is obselete/discontinued

[jglutz]

Volts at the battery in the back were 11.27 off the post. That was with freezing temperatures here this morning.

Below 12V.......I'm thinking battery

Just a little rant, not against you Simon or any previous post....a couple weeks ago I caught an episode of American Chopper where they were starting the Sears Craftman Bike and converting their tools over from Snap-On to Craftsman...Anyway, the Craftman Rep comes into the shop with a Die-Hard battery frozen within a block of Ice contained inside an Igloo Cooler. He takes the leads from this frozen battery and jump starts a chopper with it and everyone is so impressed......DUH....The colder the battery the better it works....Its cold engines with thick sticky oil that are a problem not cold batteries.

[FB71]

He takes the leads from this frozen battery and jump starts a chopper with it and everyone is so impressed......DUH....The colder the battery the better it works....Its cold engines with thick sticky oil that are a problem not cold batteries.

c'mon, Joe, you can't be serious!?

Lead-Acid battery efficiency goes DOWN below a minimum threshold and above a maximum! Extreme low temps slow, and can even stop, the electrolytic reaction between Pb and SO4 (or is it SO2, I can't remember right now...).

However.... Commercial ice temperature is usually only slightly below 32F, often in the 26F-28F range. That's not low enough to adversly effect a new lead-acid battery. Temps below -10 are where things get hairy.

Oh, and stay away from DieHards.... They're made by JCI (Johnson Controls Inc), and really aren't that great, based on my personal experience.

[SimonTuffGuy]

jg - Thanks. I tested again after running it for a few minutes on a new fuse and it's at 11.40 now. While I was waiting for Jim, with the car off... I had a mini heater running. It's the type that plug into the cigarette lighter, except I have mine spliced into the fuse box itself and tapped on the fuse for the seat belts (since that fuse isn't used anymore in my car).

At any rate... We probably sat for somewhere between 10-20 minutes with the car off and the heater on. Would've that drained the battery enough to the point where it could be blowing these fuses until it's charged back to a 12.20? What if I stick my trickle charger on the red top? Will I be able to charge it enough to get back to that?

And no offense taken. I always though it was a mix between the battery and sludy cold oil (thus the need for a block heater in the northern states/Canada).