ECU Cont 10 amp fuse keeps popping

[S13srdave]

Well guys, I've been having issues with my car running rich and having other problems lately. Well my Brake light has been on for some time now, along with my battery light (but very dim) and I really haven't been to conserned with it, bc I was trying to fix the running rich problem. Well I haven't been able to fix the rich problem so I decided I'd take a stab at the lights. What I found out is that my ECU Cont 10 amp fuse was burned up, and that it being popped could be causing all of my issues. Well, I replaced the fuse and not 20 seconds after I started the car, it popped the fuse again. My battery is new and I'll take my alternator to get tested tomorrow, but i'm not having any issues with running the car or the car not starting. Can it be that the alternator is over-charging the battery? and if so, how? I'm assuming the problem has to be in my wiring. What would cause the fuse to keep blowing?

[USMCgetsome]

when did this start? Has this exsisted since the wiring harness was converted?

Best way to solve this issues is start at the fuse box. get a multimeter and probe either the left or right post and find what the voltage is. You should only see voltage on the feed side of the fuse. If you have it on both sides then you definitely have an issue. it's referred to as a SHORT in the wiring. I agree with testing the alternator voltages which again can be done with a multimeter.

Test the battery voltage and also check your grounds.

[Hijacker]

More than likely, it's a short in the harness somewhere. It could be a wire that just decided to rub itself bare, or it could be an issue with some custom wiring done to the harness. Get an FSM and start tracing the wires for that circuit.

[S13srdave]

Well today I tested my alternator to make sure that it wasn't sending too much power back to the battery and it's putting a healthy 14.5ish volt back to the battery, so that wasn't the problem. I took the subharness of the car and went over it and found nothing. I guess I get to tear into the main harness tomorrow. Yay.

[S13srdave]

So I traced the problem off the fuse and found which wire was messed up and fixed it. No more popped fuses, but unfortunently, my car is still running pig rich at idle once it's warmed up.

[USMCgetsome]

Thanks for the update but what in detail was wrong with the wire? Melted jacket, grounded, broken, where was the damage located in the car?

[S13srdave]

Thanks for the update but what in detail was wrong with the wire? Melted jacket, grounded, broken, where was the damage located in the car?

Well, there's a brown wire and a black w/red stripe wire coming off that fuse. I put a multimeter on each and the brown wire was grounding out somewhere. I traced it back to the brown 6 pin connector (E10 in the manual) that's next the battery, and I knew the short was between the fuse box and this plug. The only other thing the brown wire runs to is the A.I.V. Control Solenoid Valve that we don't use on the SR, so I just ran a new wire from the brown wire coming off the fuse, directly to the E10 plug. No more shorting.

[USMCgetsome]

Now I like what the fix is but you should interest yourself in finding the damage in that harness and see if more repairs ate required.

[S13srdave]

Now I like what the fix is but you should interest yourself in finding the damage in that harness and see if more repairs ate required.

I agree, but it'll have to do for now, as the car is currently my DD, and I don't have time to pull the harness apart.

[USMCgetsome]

happy motoring!