Shift Lock Fuse

[sethulrich]

What is the shift lock fuse for on an s13 equipped with a manual transmission? I am the third owner, and as far as I know, the car has always been a manual.

The reason I ask is because I was driving home a few weeks ago, and my car quit on me. Nothing dramatic, I just pushed in the clutch, to coast down, and it died. No weird noises or anything.

Then I was unable to start it...it acted like the battery was dead. The starter would click, but that is all. Then I totally lost power, the dome lights went dead and everything. I checked the fuses, and the shift lock fuse was blown. I assume this fuse blew at the point where I lost power.

I replaced it, and that gave me power again, but the car still didn't wanna start. Somebody stopped to help, and I was able to push start the car. Drove it home, no problem. Shut it off, and it wouldn't start again.

Next day I went out, started the car. The starter made a grinding noise, but the car started ok. Well, I parked it again, and pulled the starter. The starter gear housing that goes into the bell housing is broken, and there is a lot of shaft play in the starter, so I'm replacing the starter. I must have gotten careless when I changed the clutch, and broken that housing.

So, I still don't understand a couple things.

1) What is the purpose of a shift lock fuse when the car has a manual transmission?

2) What would make this fuse blow? Is it possible the broken starter was in a bind, and the strain of trying to start it blew this fuse?

3) could the bad starter have caused the car to die, and not start again? I could understand it causing a problem if it got in a bind, but I think that would have made some horrible noises....but there weren't any.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!