15A Fuse keeps blowing.

[KKilo23]

97 D-90 SW

My 15A fuse keeps blowing. I believe it is the one that controls the rear wiper, brake light and turn signals. I have full power when it is blown though, if the fuse blows while your driving the truck keeps running. I replace the fuse and the truck turns over fine.

I think when I put the blinker on it pops it. This past time I put the blinker on to turn right, the fused popped. As I went to put my flashers on to pull over and change the fuse, the flashers flashed for about two seconds then there was a buzzing sound from the center console where the shifter is. Not participially from the shifter but that vicinity. After the buzzing the flashers went out.

I replaced the fuse, the truck turned over no problem. But now I do not have blinkers or hazards.

The turn signal switch still allows me to put the high and low beams on, but nothing when I try to put the turn signals on...

Hazard Switch is completely dead.

Any ideas?

[o2batsea]

Uh, yeah you have a short to ground. OK that's obvious I know. Drilled any holes in anything lately? Not out of the question to put a mounting screw right thru a wire that you didn't want to put a hole in. Otherwise I'm "in the dark" like you.

[KKilo23]

Uh, yeah you have a short to ground. OK that's obvious I know. Drilled any holes in anything lately? Not out of the question to put a mounting screw right thru a wire that you didn't want to put a hole in. Otherwise I'm "in the dark" like you.

No holes drilled at all. No modifications. Just one day started to pop fuses. I would change them and the same issue would occur but everything worked, sorta. The blinkers would work randomly. But most of the time pop the fuse. This time when I hit the hazards caused everything to go out for good.

[Weldon]

Having a similar issue? Just put in a new dome light now hazards will not work.

[KKilo23]

The red arrow is pointing to the slot where the 15A fuse would go that I have to keep replacing.... I am going to try and replace the Flasher Relay today and see if that gets the flashers working, I still need to figure what is popping the fuse.

[130Tdi]

Kenny,
If both the hazards & the turns are out I would suspect the relay, especially if you heard the frying relay sound. I managed to get water in my flasher relay in Vt last summer @ Erics 4wheel for Kids event and drove home to Md with no turn signals. I replaced the oddball 1983 hd flasher relay and all was well. Relays are just switches that handle higher amperage-the contacts eventually burn/wear out. I'm having a similar issue with the 130, its randomly blowing the dash/parking lamp fuse when I'm towing a trailer. Went through 3 on a 500 mile trip last weekend.
I'm using the cool new (but very expensive) "Smart Fuse-glows when it blows". Makes figuring out which fuse is blown as simple as removing the fuse cover and seeing what's lit-especially nice after dark....

[Campbell]

Had same kind of problems. My wire harness inside the frame toward the back of the truck had frayed.

[Manimal]

Is it a coincidence or does it seems like this fuse is more prone to blowing than other fuses? Seems like a lot of people are having trouble with this fuse in particular. My turn signal/break light fuse also kept blowing repeatedly recently. I removed my town harness and it went away. No idea what caused it but I can only assume that it was the town harness.

When using the turn signals I have noticed that the first flash lights up the trailer light on the dash and the following ones might up the turn signal light on the dash. Is this the way it is supposed to be? Is there something left of the tow harness that needs to be removed (connected to the dash perhaps). Not that is a problem, just thought it was a little strange.

[KKilo23]

Kenny,
If both the hazards & the turns are out I would suspect the relay, especially if you heard the frying relay sound. I managed to get water in my flasher relay in Vt last summer @ Erics 4wheel for Kids event and drove home to Md with no turn signals. I replaced the oddball 1983 hd flasher relay and all was well. Relays are just switches that handle higher amperage-the contacts eventually burn/wear out. I'm having a similar issue with the 130, its randomly blowing the dash/parking lamp fuse when I'm towing a trailer. Went through 3 on a 500 mile trip last weekend.
I'm using the cool new (but very expensive) "Smart Fuse-glows when it blows". Makes figuring out which fuse is blown as simple as removing the fuse cover and seeing what's lit-especially nice after dark....

I plan on pulling apart the console and changing the relay. If in fact it is just the relay causing the flashers/hazards to be out, great. The real mystery is whats causing the fuse to blow. I do think it has something to do with the turn signals. One thought, the PO had wired a trailer harness off of the OEM trailer harness after it failed, maybe one of those wires are touching and popping it?

Is it a coincidence or does it seems like this fuse is more prone to blowing than other fuses? Seems like a lot of people are having trouble with this fuse in particular. My turn signal/break light fuse also kept blowing repeatedly recently. I removed my town harness and it went away. No idea what caused it but I can only assume that it was the town harness.

When using the turn signals I have noticed that the first flash lights up the trailer light on the dash and the following ones might up the turn signal light on the dash. Is this the way it is supposed to be? Is there something left of the tow harness that needs to be removed (connected to the dash perhaps). Not that is a problem, just thought it was a little strange.

Mine does the same. I don't know if this is b/c I have an OEM trailer harness, and some jerry rigged unit by the PO... My luck both my trucks have OEM harness so I can't compare one to the other.

Had same kind of problems. My wire harness inside the frame toward the back of the truck had frayed.

I hope to god this isn't my problem.

[evilfij]

It could be a corroded bulb holder too and that toasted the relay. I would check/replace them as they are a common, very common failure point on 95/97s (which is why I like 1994 lights). :)

Ron

[hillstrubl]

Kenny,
If both the hazards & the turns are out I would suspect the relay, especially if you heard the frying relay sound. I managed to get water in my flasher relay in Vt last summer @ Erics 4wheel for Kids event and drove home to Md with no turn signals. I replaced the oddball 1983 hd flasher relay and all was well. Relays are just switches that handle higher amperage-the contacts eventually burn/wear out. I'm having a similar issue with the 130, its randomly blowing the dash/parking lamp fuse when I'm towing a trailer. Went through 3 on a 500 mile trip last weekend.
I'm using the cool new (but very expensive) "Smart Fuse-glows when it blows". Makes figuring out which fuse is blown as simple as removing the fuse cover and seeing what's lit-especially nice after dark....

Would that be one of the relays behind that metal plate on the fuse panel? I'm looking into this for my issue as well

[mikeslandrover]

It's shorting to ground that's blowing the fuse. Look for a wire thats frayed possibly going through a bulk head or body work or the wiring running along inside the front wing to the turn indicators & repeater on the side of the wing.
With a wiring fault you just have to be methodical and assume nothing. start at one end of the loom and work along. They can be very tough to track down especially if intermittant:(

[HeloBubba]

The wierd noise from your center console/shifter area may be the shift lock solenoid (allows you to shift out of park when you press the brake) trying to actuate as the fuse blows. You have a '97, so I'm assuming you have an auto box.

I had the same thing happen to me several years ago on mine when I was working wiring. One morning while driving to work and stopping for breakfast, I would blow a fuse when I touched the brake when I tried to restart it. Even if I got the car to start by not touching the brake, the fuse would blow before the solenoid would actuate (as I had to press the brake to shift), so I couldn't get the transmission out of park. I figured it was probably brake light related, and after checking all lower lights with no joy, I eventually discovered that in my case it was due to bad luck and stupidity on my part.

I'd removed the upper top door brake light wiring to replace my rear door a couple of days prior, and had not yet reinstalled it. As such, that wiring was wrapped laying in the back rear corner of the truck, with the ground and hot leads isolated from one another. What had happened in that case was that during some random bump or turn, the hot lead had shifted in the back and came to rest against the rear cage upright. Hit the brakes and instant short to ground and blown fuse.

You certainly have a short to ground, and I'd check chafing against the chassis or something similar, but one of the numerous lighting runs or bulb holders, etc/ would be my first path of failure to check, just as the other guys mentioned.

Good luck! Rover wiring t/s is fun.

Murph

[Roverchef]

Why not check all the rear lamps for water. The rears seam to collect fluid inside and corrode the bulbs and fittings.....causing a constant arc. We(Stealership) were told to drill a small pin-hole in the bottom of the lense so if water got in it would drain right back out. I can't count how many I've found over the years with fluid inside of them and it causing all kinds of havac on the electrics. Just something to check before you go tearing into the dash. Good luck.

[130Tdi]

Kenny was having this problem again this weekend . Fuse only pops when he uses his turn signals. Pretty sure one of them has water in it after Thursdays deluge.

[KKilo23]

OK, so left turn signal works perfect. Right was blowing the fuse... I have found the issue in the back right wheel well. The ground was frying out from getting wet/dirty/muddy etc etc. So its fixed....until next time.

Also, I originally had OEM trailer harness that was corroded to shit that caused the initial problem. I removed the unit and cleaned it all the wires back up. It apparently was not water tight. This weekend plenty of shit got in there which caused it to fry out again...

[blenkush]

On my '97 I've had the 15A fuse blow a few times over the last three months. As Murphy would have it, I'm now almost 400 miles from home and the fuse has gone from blowing after driving a while to blowing as soon as I turn the key on. If I turn the key very quickly I can get the motor started before the fuse goes. I have an electronic brake control for a trailer installed and when I manually energize it the transmission lock soleniod releases so I can shift into gear (thank God - but driving with no brake lights is NOT good). The brake lights also come on when I engergize the brake control. The hazard lights work. I changed the rear brake/tail light bulbs as the housings had filled with water at one point (the leads had some corrosion, but not enough to stop the bulbs from lighting). I also swapped out the relay on the rear wiper with no success. There must be a short somewhere, but with the lights coming on with the electronic brake control my guess is that the short isn't in the rear of the truck. I'm at a loss to think the trailer connection (wired into the factory plug by the gas filler) would be causing this as the fuse blows as soon as the key is turned, not when the brake or turn signal is applied (don't remember there being a "live" wire to the plug but haven't verified). I don't have the luxury of time, so I'm open to suggestion where to look first. Thanks in advance!!

Cheers,
Severin

[rrc.swb]

On my '97 I've had the 15A fuse blow a few times over the last three months. As Murphy would have it, I'm now almost 400 miles from home and the fuse has gone from blowing after driving a while to blowing as soon as I turn the key on. If I turn the key very quickly I can get the motor started before the fuse goes. I have an electronic brake control for a trailer installed and when I manually energize it the transmission lock soleniod releases so I can shift into gear (thank God - but driving with no brake lights is NOT good). The brake lights also come on when I engergize the brake control. The hazard lights work. I changed the rear brake/tail light bulbs as the housings had filled with water at one point (the leads had some corrosion, but not enough to stop the bulbs from lighting). I also swapped out the relay on the rear wiper with no success. There must be a short somewhere, but with the lights coming on with the electronic brake control my guess is that the short isn't in the rear of the truck. I'm at a loss to think the trailer connection (wired into the factory plug by the gas filler) would be causing this as the fuse blows as soon as the key is turned, not when the brake or turn signal is applied (don't remember there being a "live" wire to the plug but haven't verified). I don't have the luxury of time, so I'm open to suggestion where to look first. Thanks in advance!!

Cheers,
SeverinStop using the ebrake to light the brake lamps. You will overheat the cable and potentially burn something.

The hazard light is a different circuit.

You are back feeding the brake lights via the brake controller. (and the locking solenoid).

The corrosion on the leads can be your problem.

The light bulb can handle the overcurrent for a short period of time. That's why the are are working now.

[kevkon]

That's one reason why I eliminated that trans lock solonoid.

[blenkush]

Roger that on the brake control. I'm only using it to get the truck in gear.

Wouln't corrosion on the light sockets cause the fuse to blow when the brakes are applied? My fuse blows as soon as the key is turned?

Thanks

[rrc.swb]

Roger that on the brake control. I'm only using it to get the truck in gear.

Wouln't corrosion on the light sockets cause the fuse to blow when the brakes are applied? My fuse blows as soon as the key is turned?

ThanksLooking for a short is a PITA... It's the same as looking for a needle in a haystack.

The brakes will not turn on without the ignition turned. Unless someone re-wired it.

Check the Brake Pedal Switch.

[sonoronos]

Did you recently pull out one or both of the turn signal bases or disconnect them from the wiring harness and reconnect them?

One huge problem with these Prince of Darkness style turn signal bases is that they make it look like polarity doesn't matter, but actually one wire HAS to be ground because it grounds to the chassis via the screws.

If the wiring for the signal bases is reversed, then you have ground connected directly to positive and that means very excited electrons.

[kevkon]

[QUOTE=rrc.swb;300292]Looking for a short is a PITA... It's the same as looking for a needle in a haystack.[QUOTE]

That's why God invented the short circuit finder :)

[rrc.swb]

Did you recently pull out one or both of the turn signal bases or disconnect them from the wiring harness and reconnect them?

One huge problem with these Prince of Darkness style turn signal bases is that they make it look like polarity doesn't matter, but actually one wire HAS to be ground because it grounds to the chassis via the screws.

If the wiring for the signal bases is reversed, then you have ground connected directly to positive and that means very excited electrons.
I thought of that too... That was the problem on my truck.

The circuit is open and only closes when the brake switch is engaged.

[mikeslandrover]

Roger that on the brake control. I'm only using it to get the truck in gear.

Wouln't corrosion on the light sockets cause the fuse to blow when the brakes are applied? My fuse blows as soon as the key is turned?

Thanks

So there is a short that goes hot as soon as the ignition is on and the fuse blows, you just have to be methodical, start at one end and work along, assume nothing, check everything, rust, dirty water Lucas electrics :rolleyes will all cause shorts.

[RedD90]

This ↓!!!

Thank you! KK! The reason why it blew is because the rear driver's side brake light lamp housing was full of water, the connectors having rotted as a result. We got those fuses that light up when they blow (really useful, them!) and only by chance with my son standing behind the vehicle while I backed it out of the garage and applying the brakes did he notice the brake light not illuminating.

Sometimes it pays to work in teams! Ha ha! :cool:

Anyhow, I'm going to bite the bullet and get myself a set of LED lights for the back. While I was checking the connectors, it is obvious that it's not only the bulb-side connectors that need changing out but the receiving-side too. Anyone know if the LED sets have these included or will I need to replace these with stock connectors?

Thanks for everyone's input and help. I'll copy this reply to the other post just so that there is a link between these two helpful posts. :thumbs :toast

The red arrow is pointing to the slot where the 15A fuse would go that I have to keep replacing.... I am going to try and replace the Flasher Relay today and see if that gets the flashers working, I still need to figure what is popping the fuse.

[Dennis]

It could be a corroded bulb holder too and that toasted the relay. I would check/replace them as they are a common, very common failure point on 95/97s (which is why I like 1994 lights). :)

Ron


I'd agree with this, unless you have those waterproof boot assemblies for the rears lights, corrosion is inevitable.

[KKilo23]

Glad you got it figured out!

[RedD90]

I love you in a very manly way! Would you be willing to accept a big bear hug?

Glad you got it figured out!

[KKilo23]

hahaha all good.. just send me a bottle of Walker Blue.. call it even

[mikeslandrover]

That took a while to sort out:eek: