radio and tripometer are out

[bxracer69]

Today my radio just quit on me all of a sudden. Then when I came down to reno I noticed every time I turn the car off my tripometer resets itself to 0.0 Im not positive but I think a fuse may be blown. Any ideas or wisdom from anyone else?

[sperry]

Sounds like a fuse. Replace it and quit plugging in industrial equipment in the cigarette lighter.

[100_Percent_Juice]

Its probably that Jenna Jameson vibrating vagina thats blowing your fuses.

[bxracer69]

damn... alright.... i guess my road trip fun will just have to stop, jk. It was the fuse.

[bxracer69]

alright... this problem is getting more complex

With nothing plugged into the lighter this time.

I 've gone through 3 fuses in the past day and a half.

The last one went like this. I had the hood and driver door both open. I put a new fuse in, everything came on, including the alarm. Turned the alarm off, and 20-30 secs. later the dome light dims a little, then 5 secs later the fuse blows.

Any ideas???? I haven't changed a thing, and now this just happens out of no where!

[Dean]

Who wired your stereo? Is it a PnP harness, or was it a slice and splice job?

Even if it is a harness, the most likely place for a wire to get crammed between two pieces of metal or rub against something sharp is in the radio bay. Pull it and check everything.

[bxracer69]

wouldn't this blow the radio fuse inside the car first? its a PnP harness,i checked everything and couldn't find any wires that were pinched or anything. I also checked the fuse on the radio and it was ok.

[100_Percent_Juice]

Just use a big ass fuse and see what happens.

[bxracer69]

i put in a 20 as the last one and it blew... would it be safe to crank it up to a 30?

[Dean]

Anything spliced in for gauges or such? Amps? Anything patched in behind the cluster or in the fuse box?

Pull the radio, unhook the add on harness and try the fuse again.

Repeat with other items on same circuit.

Dash, etc.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by bxracer69

i put in a 20 as the last one and it blew... would it be safe to crank it up to a 30?

NO! You don't want to start burning wires instead of fuses.

[bxracer69]

thats what i figured with the 30. I'll try everything in the morning, I have the Turbo Timer hooked up and the knock link.

[100_Percent_Juice]

Think back. When did the problem first start? Did you hit a pothole or jar your car around that could have possibly knocked something loose? Did you recently install something?

[bxracer69]

i haven't installed anything. The problem started when i was leaving the gym, i didnt hit any potholes or anything, it just stopped

[sperry]

Originally Posted by bxracer69

i haven't installed anything. The problem started when i was leaving the gym, i didnt hit any potholes or anything, it just stopped

Any chance you kicked the wiring under the dash when operating the clutch or something?

I did that in the SVX, bumped the remote start harness w/ my foot loosening a plug, and the car would intermittently lose ignition while I was driving. I was really lucky nothing caught on fire under there, as there was a little arcing between the IGN and GND wires.

[MPREZIV]

Originally Posted by bxracer69

i put in a 20 as the last one and it blew... would it be safe to crank it up to a 30?

Ahh... the smoke test. Afro engineering at it's finest!

For realsies tho, you don't wanna do that. I could suggest about a dozen or so tools that'd help you track down the short, but I'm pretty sure you don't have any of them. The best advice is what you've already been told. Start unhooking things on that fuse circuit, and see if the shorting stops. It'll cost a few more spare fuses, but it'll let you find the wiring/component that has the short.

[bxracer69]

ok.... its the radio.

After a 10 hour drive without it and no blown fuses cuz i pulled the damn thing out and had it sitting on the floor.

Now I just gotta figure out what with the radio is shorting out.