Keep blowing Fuse #5...

[Team Dave]

Well add me to the list of people who keep blowing Fuse #5. Been this way for a few weeks now, and I still have NO idea why. I've checked all the normal stuff within the fuse, and I've come up with nothing. Oddly enough it happened right around the same time I wired in my fishtanks, but I didn't think that would cause an issue. I've unplugged the signal lights, and changed the flasher, and it didn't change anything. I think that may just be a coincidence. EATC isn't causing it, Air bag isn't.. etc. I'm lost now My only guess is the problem has spread elsewhere, so it may be something unrelated to Fuse #5.

Oddly enough, the fuse will blow whenever I engage the clutch. If I don't, the car will idle fine, and everything will be 100% normal. Once I put the clutch in, it pops almost instantly. My first guess at that I messed up something involving the neutral safety switch, but I've check that, and it still blows with that unplugged. Now I really have no idea why. Real big PITA to drive with no signal lights. No to mention my dash is torn apart, and I have half the board harassing me for pictures of my interior. Gotta put it back together for a damn photoshoot! Hah

Any ideas that could lead to a functional fuse would be AWESOME! Thanks guys :wave:

 

[hawkeye18]

hoo boy. There's a lot of shit connected to fuse #5.




Good luck... Maybe MFS?

 

[NiNeTy Fo SHO]

I do believe fuse #5 is:
EATC
rear defrost
turn signals
reverse lights

at least that is what I lost when fuse 5 went.

Oh, and after MUCHO searching and my CEL coming on, the pre-heating of the O2 sensors when it is cold outside comes from this fuse as well. My CEL came on when the car was cold, but would go out when the car warmed up (aka, the pre-heating of the O2's was no longer needed).

I fiddled around with that for days/weeks...talked to numerous people on the forum and got no answer. One female actually took her car to the machanic numerous times trying to get them to figure it out, and got nothing.

Odd part was, I could replace the fuse, start the car and everything was usually fine until I did something. I would push in the clutch, and it would blow...sometimes I would get it backed out of the driveway before it would go.

Oddest part was...it blew, I replaced it and it lasted for 2 weeks or so. It blew again, replaced it and it blew almost instantly. Replaced it with a 25 amp fuse...and it lasted for like 2 months (I was in college with no money, and it was winter...no EATC means no heat or front defrost).

I ended up rewiring the wire for the EATC and just drove it without the other features (rear defrost didnt work anyway).

Hope this helps...I feel your pain. I dont have that SHO anymore...but I recently found it for sale on craigslist.

 

[whiteman_01]

Any chance the you could be shorting a wire with the clutch pedal itself? I have have had it happen before where a wire got caught in in the fuse box, every time i tried to put the fuse box in the up position it would short the wire out and blow the fuse. Long shot, but possible?

 

[Storm-Chaser]

Have you removed the wiring for the fishtanks [yet]? If not, why not?

You don't mention this, but depressing the clutch pedal [also] disengages the cruise-control. Try cycling through (pressing/actuating all the buttons) to see if that also blows the fuse.

Don't forget that the main dash harness runs not far above the pedal assembly, and the harness from the VAPs control module passes just right of the pedals, through the firewall. See if you can insert a piece of plastic (or other insulating material) above the adjuster assembly, and then see if the fuse blowns again.

 

[Team Dave]

Any chance the you could be shorting a wire with the clutch pedal itself? I have have had it happen before where a wire got caught in in the fuse box, every time i tried to put the fuse box in the up position it would short the wire out and blow the fuse. Long shot, but possible?

I checked up there the best I could, but everything looked ok. That was my most recent guess too. I didn't see anything being pinched, or really even close to being pinched. I'll go under there again with a better light today.

Have you removed the wiring for the fishtanks [yet]? If not, why not?

You don't mention this, but depressing the clutch pedal [also] disengages the cruise-control. Try cycling through (pressing/actuating all the buttons) to see if that also blows the fuse.

Don't forget that the main dash harness runs not far above the pedal assembly, and the harness from the VAPs control module passes just right of the pedals, through the firewall. See if you can insert a piece of plastic (or other insulating material) above the adjuster assembly, and then see if the fuse blowns again.

Already removed the Fishtank wiring. Tried it on Thursday. Un-wired them and rewired them, with the same results.

I'll check the other points you mentioned. Good call.

 

[NiNeTy Fo SHO]

Mine had nothing to do with the pedal it seemed...I could depress the clutch 40 times and nothing would go wrong.

So then I got to thinking it was me sticking teh shifter into reverse (causing the rear back up lights to come on)...did that like 20 times in and out of reverse...still worked ok. It was kinda random when it would go.

 

[projectSHO89]

Dave,

Assuming the fault only occurs when the clutch is depressed:

The possible cruise connection won't pan out. Impossible. The signal switch on the clutch tells the PCM that the clutch has been depressed. The PCM-controlled cruise module is on a different circuit.

My suspicion is you have a problem with one of the O2 sensor harnesses or one of the O2 sensors. Inspect the harnesses to be certain that are not laying on the exhaust or, for the rear-most one, not physically engaging with the clutch cable. If nothing is visible, disconnect the sensors and see if the short goes away when the clutch is depressed. As already pointed out, the O2 heaters are on this fuse.


Steve

 

[Team Dave]

Dave,

Assuming the fault only occurs when the clutch is depressed:

The possible cruise connection won't pan out. Impossible. The signal switch on the clutch tells the PCM that the clutch has been depressed. The PCM-controlled cruise module is on a different circuit.

My suspicion is you have a problem with one of the O2 sensor harnesses or one of the O2 sensors. Inspect the harnesses to be certain that are not laying on the exhaust or, for the rear-most one, not physically engaging with the clutch cable. If nothing is visible, disconnect the sensors and see if the short goes away when the clutch is depressed. As already pointed out, the O2 heaters are on this fuse.


Steve

Now that makes sense. I checked the O2s last week and there was no slack in them, so I could tell they weren't touching the exhaust. Didn't seem to see anything underhood as far as the clutch cable went. Maybe underneith would get me a better view. I didn't seem to find anything touching from under the dash. Has a nice shield that guards it good. Unplugged the harnesses on the pedal itself and it still went.
Hopefully your idea is where its at, because I really cant think of anywehere else it would be if it were clutch related. I'll go check

 

[Grantorinslo]

Sometimes the most difficult problem has a simple solution. It was very odd, I will get the pics up tomorrow. Basically part of the harness was being rubbed against a bracket by the clutch cable. The hole in the wire was so small it is hard to see in the pics off my 8MP. It was grounding out when the clutch was depressed. It was not the O2 harness. Seperate and insulate, and rewrap harness, has not blown yet.

 

[Team Dave]

As Pat just said, issue has been taken care of. I jacked up the car and had him engage the clutch yesterday while I looked undernieth to see if the cable rubbed on anything.. saw nothing, but decided I should check underhood as well, because I didn't see anything by the pedal itsself. Saw a harness underhood being pinched, and saw a tiny amount of copper showing on one wire.. Pulled it apart, taped it off, re-routed harnesses so nothing touches, and voila. Fuse has yet to blow. Took pictures as well, but they wont be uploaded until today sometime. I know the fuse #5 issue is decently common, and yet to be solved, so hopefully this may be what the cause is for other people. I don't even know what harness this is, or how it's related to the fuse. Oh well, I have turn signals again!! haha

 

[NiNeTy Fo SHO]

Glad you got it fixed...it was something that was rare and no one could seem to find!

 

[Grantorinslo]

Pics & explanation

Ok this is for reference so the clutch cable is not in the way (black with orange stripe moved to the left). The red arrow is pointing to our rub spot, and the green arrow is the harness that was grounding out 1 wire when the clutch is depressed.

Second pic this is the underside of the harness, it was rubbed through and we cut off the wrap and found this very small exposed section of wire.

 

[hawkeye18]

lol. Glad you found it!