I'm blowing fuses R & L !!!

[sxxy1992]

Help! I'm blowing the same fuse time after time! I have a completely stock 1992 240sx convertible with 72,000 miles that is blowing the 10A fuse that goes to "Room Lamp". This operates the dome light, interior foot area lighting, jockey box, trunk interior light, and radio antenna won't go up or down, and clock doesn;t work. and the "door ajar" light stays on. 2 days ago for the first time I noticed these things not working after driving 50 miles. I stopped and put in another one and the problem went away and was fine. Next day, problem came back again. Now, as soon as I put in a fuse, it arcs immediately and blows. Lost 3 in a row so stopped. Has been fine for 4 weeks but now has an issue. Started acouple days ago sometime after plugging in a cellphone charger to my cigarette lighter. Charger worked at first and then didn't work. Thought it may be my cigarette lighter faulty, but it seems to work perfectly by itself and in the present situation. Also, after running the engine for a few minutes and turning it off, a couple minutes later I get a soft whirring around the engine area that sounds sort of like some small compressor pumping up or something. Anybody know what that sound may be?? Have not pinpointed that sound yet. just concentrating on what is blowing my fuses. Anybody have any ideas???? thanks in advance. Also had a front end alignment about the same time but don't know if that is related......

[nissanconvert]

When fuses blow immediatly it means somthing on the circuit is shorting out. You need to trace the wiring and items on the circuit and look for the problem. Break out the screwdriver and multimeter, you'll prolly need them. Start with areas the have more use like the cigarette lighter, remove it and inspect the wires etc. A whirring noise is a motor of some sort, antenna, fuelpump, etc. Likely nothing to worry about.Alighnment won't cause electrical issues.Good luck!

[sxxy1992]

thankyou. today a friend hipped me to the fact that maybe the antenna is trying to go up or down but something keeping it in a bind or something to where it draws too much current. And other than that, take oout all the bulbsand everything on the circuit and start putting things back one at a time until it is found. So will do that. Have a multimeter also. Thanks.

[sxxy1992]

ok, everyone, are you ready for the news?? I think I have located the culprit that pretty well "ate my lunch" and dinner yesterday!! Here's the scoop as it appears this morning. I removed all the interior bulbs on the circuit that seemed to be pertinent. Was about to remove the harness to the antenna when I discovered something that was just so far out that I was amazed. All I can think is that it is something the manufacturer installed and called it a "quick $100 program". Anybody that comes in 15 years later with the symptoms I had, the mechanic would look in the book under "quick $100 program", see the quick fix, (hardly any time involved), fix it, and collect a quick $100 from the person. ha! I'm being a bit fecetious here but it is a real bone-headed thing that Nissan appears to have done. And everyone that has this model should check it out to avoid an issue in the future. Ok, are you sitting on the edge of your seats, yet??? Got the popcorn ready???? Then let the show begin............In the trunk pocket that houses the jack is a little steel frame that the jack is placed in and rides in. Well the forward part of that frame has a little lip on it and 4 or 5 little 22 gauge or so colored wires on the harness for the antenna were looped over that little lip. Well, the lip has sharp edges (no apparent arcs or anything) and the jack rides right on the wires (and no doubt rubs them right against the frame lip until fuses start to blow). So far, I have removed the jack, removed that frame with 3 screws, separated those 5 wires from one another and inserted a new 10A "Mr. Fuse". There was no arc flash, but I did hear a sound from back there in the area of the antenna. May have been a relay closing with the available power and getting ready to energize the antenna when I hit the button on the radio. And when I turned the car on I got clock, door ajar light was out, and antenna goes up and down perfectly. So, unless it was bulbs in the interior lighting, I believe I solved the problem of the blowing fuses. There it is, simple as that, nothing more; nothing less. So, I'm going to insulate those wires from themselves and make sure they can't contact metal. Can't see if they are worn thru because can't get that close with my eyes. But want to alert those of you out there that may be experiencing a similar problem or one that will rear its ugly head in the near future. Will try to get a picture posted on here soon with my little camera. Just absolutely could not believe anybody would engineer something like that and then stand back and say, "yep, that looks good!"... ha!

[sxxy1992]

For the final, successful conclusion to this problem, look at the article that starts out "How Sxxy1992 (stella) got his (her) lunch (groove) back!!"

[Mangudai]

lol, nice

[8-bit]

turns out.. this was not the case for my hatch... the wiring for the hatch goes in a different spot and was not rubbing on anything...

so now i pulled EVERYTHING tha truns off that wire out of the car and it still shorts.. which means its the WIRE.. lord.. it goes everywhere..

i think i'll just have to go w/ this problem for life...