So last night my fuse blew tryied to replace and kept blowing my kiwi mate (idiot) put a 30amp fuse in the 10amp fuse socket for my parker/speedo lights then hid lights and smoke came out of my lights pod (melted) the wires so iam really not happy. what could cause this fues to keep popping I sure its a short somewhere what would cause it and if someone could tell me where the light pod wire loom runs and is it going to be big money to replace and if I need to rip the dash out or not to replace . I have an auto electrician coming out tomorrow.
Factory Service Manual (FSM) What we call a workshop manual. http://www.pexcom.com.au/z32cms/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.7 Big job.. probably. The initial short that kept blowing the fuse was the issue. The oversized fuse found the short, but also caused more damage by the way of melted wires, and possibly connectors. You have no way to check back through the loom to see how many melt spots have also shorted. On the plus side you only saw smoke. That could easily have been fire, and not having any marshmallows on hand would have been a waste of a not so good Zed fire. See what the sparky says, but don't be surprised if he recommends replacing the under dash loom. There could be a weak spot in the loom that is not shorting yet, but in time with vibration could cause trouble. Sorry to be the bearer of not so good news. Its never a good idea to replace a 10A fuse with a bolt
Just pulling off the dash is at least 5 hours work (never doing it before and counting for troubles) and a mechanic would charge you at least 4-500 just to pull it off, replacing that loom would be around the same in price. Realistically, unless you go to a zed specialist you will be charged minimum 1500. Also, under dash loom isn't cheap, if you want a brand new one be prepared to fork out 1500+. So second hand probably. Would be best to get your hands dirty and read up on the forum/tech section and try and do it yourself, just trace wires/organise nuts and bolts. Would save yourself quite a bit of money, but being realistic, it is NO small task.
slow down guys, go the easy things first, heres a post of mine from and old thread and a link to that thread ------ Ahh the old "Clearance illumination fuse" what an epic failure on Nissans part to have every interior and exterior light on the same fuse. a while ago i did a list of all items on this cirtuit but i cant find it now, ill list the stuff that i remember. In no particular order of most likely ones. headlamp wiring/connectors front park lights rear park lights numberplate lights dash lights radio dimmer (black wire) glovebox light interior light in center console, (maybe theres 2) Make sure you completely eliminate all of these. work through the list and unplug all the lights as far back as you can go. Remember even corrosion around a bulb or joint can cause high resistance and higher amp draw. http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-283211.html
Iam thinking if I have to pull the dash out I might consider doing the heater core as well :/. stupid how nissan put so much important stuff on one fuse. thanks any info to this matter helps.
He did mention high amp fuse in a 10A socket and smoke. That usually means melted insulation somewhere. Do the indicators also use the same circuit?
no.. both indicators and hazards have separate fuses (#2 & 18).. however depending on what damage was done they may be compromised.. he did say that smoke came out of the light pod... so from an extremely optimistic view that is where the damage and initial short may be.
I thought as much. I have a friend who is having issues with blowing fuses in the indicator dept. Should I use a 30A or 50A fuse to find the problem? Just joking....
Its going to be fun finding the short. the wires are rapped in tape from factory so hopefully the wire insulation has not melted threw the tap to damage other wires. Definitely Learn from this one don't let ya mates with commodors touch your car lol
Found out where the short cam from it was the old wire for the oem stereo it was not terminated properly so it touched the back of my new stereo and because the stereo outer shell is an earth it self thats what caused it to pop fuses. price to fix $150-$200 not bad. it was the parker light circuit so where going to run a new wire to the fuse box from the lights pod and then it should fix it.
Luke thats why i posted earlier. The old favourite is the OEM radio dimmer wire. Its black, tests as an earth when lights are off because it earths out through all the bulbs but as soon as lights are on it becomes live, if it touches anything it pops the fuse. Good work fixing it
Hey, not that this is exactly related but I had an issue some time ago with indicator and hazard fuses blowing. it turned out to be because larger SMIC has been installed and the bulb section of the indicators were rubbing on the metal... A mate of mine came up with the idea of moving the bulb around.. so I did and it solved the problem very nicely. This set was a tester set and didn't have the side light in it and also are the all clear outer lens type but that is inconsequential... same process.. first remove the lens and take out the little yellow lens inset. cut the old holder off and mark the new location on the side covered up the hole in the reflective section used the hole that was cut out to fill in the old fitting and also plasti-weld the holder to the new location.
