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Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....

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Offline beercheck

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Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« on: August 13, 2007, 05:12:50 PM »
You know, I kinda thought fuses were supposed to FREAKIN' BLOW when there's a problem!!

WTF is going on here??

The s#!t is officially scared out of me. 

The fuse was inline of the A/C.  Until I just now pulled the remains out with a pair of pliers, the "fuse" was still passing current and the A/C was working flawlessly....as far as I knew...

Until further notice, no flippin' A/C for me.  It's only supposed to be 103+ tomorrow, so no big deal.

Anybody ever seen anything like this before?



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Offline Carnage

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2007, 06:36:02 PM »
holy crap Batcheck
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Offline HotRod

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2007, 07:47:15 PM »
O ya.
Seen it all the time.


On my Dodge Pick Ups.......
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g-man

Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2007, 08:08:47 PM »
Could be corroded wire below fuse box or at contacts for the fuse. I have seen this lots of times, never had one burn down though.  ::)
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Offline Gary_Hill

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2007, 10:00:06 PM »
The fuse link looks in tact which is why it still passes current. Is the plastic melted or just falling apart from being brittle due to heat. Is it the correct amp fuse for the draw. Too high a fuse will just get hot if the amp draw is lower than the fuse rating....melting the plastic. This is usually due to an intermitant grounding of the hot side of the circut. Is the whole fuse block warm or hot when powered? I know there are better wire wizards on here than me, so speak up ... ;D
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Offline Drone637

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2007, 11:20:32 PM »
I had the same problem on my Ford F-350, it melted part of the fuse block as well.  The trailer lights had shorted out and the fuse didn't blow properly and just just heated up.  I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the trailer lights when I noticed smoke coming from under the hood.
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Offline sklope

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2007, 12:39:23 AM »
Thats what they make pennies for :o!!!!LOL
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Offline Drone637

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2007, 12:42:20 AM »
Knew a guy who used a 22 long rifle shell.  Should have used a spent cartridge instead of a live one...
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Offline beercheck

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2007, 04:46:30 AM »
Quote from: Gary_Hill on August 13, 2007, 10:00:06 PM
Is the plastic melted or just falling apart from being brittle due to heat.

Melted.  That shiny stuff in the 2nd picture is the hardened puddle of fuse plastic.  It melted so well it dripped out the bottom of the fuseblock.

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Is it the correct amp fuse for the draw.

Thought so at the time..  The story behind this is when I swapped the engine, I also swapped the A/C from the donor truck.  Which meant it had to be completely vented.  After the swap, I tried recharging it myself with cans, but it never got a full charge that way and the compressor would quick-cycle on and off.

Because I figured that was probably pretty bad for it, I planned to pull a fuse so that I could use the window defogger setting without using the compressor, but I don't remember actually doing so.  I may not  have, or I may have had a 6-pack beforehand.

When I finally got around to having the system professionally evacuated and recharged, the tech couldn't get the compressor to power up, and couldn't find a dedicated fuse, so he jumped the power wire and added a fuse to an open slot in the fuseblock.  That was probably March or April.  Yesterday I just happened to pull the cap off the fuseblock and.....that's the story so far.

I'm just going to have to trace the entire original circuit and see what the hell I did.

Quote
Is the whole fuse block warm or hot when powered?

Never noticed, and it's 100 freaking degrees here so everything's hot, but nothing else appears melted other than the one fuse jacket.
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Offline Zukipilot

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2007, 07:05:26 AM »
Remove the fuse block and check the connections underneath. This happened to my Kick and after replacing it with another stocker that was not corroded it has not given me trouble since.

Zig
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Offline MKOLSEN22

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2007, 07:14:54 AM »
Where did the fuse come from?  There is an e-mail circling in the General Motors Dealerships about faulty Harbor Freight fuses that do not pop.  It showed one 15 amp fuse that took a direct short across the battery and only melted the plastic around the fuse.  If you have fuses from HF I would throw them out or give them to some one you realy, realy dislike.
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Offline beercheck

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2007, 07:39:28 AM »
Quote from: MKOLSEN22 on August 14, 2007, 07:14:54 AM
Where did the fuse come from?  There is an e-mail circling in the General Motors Dealerships about faulty Harbor Freight fuses that do not pop.  It showed one 15 amp fuse that took a direct short across the battery and only melted the plastic around the fuse.  If you have fuses from HF I would throw them out or give them to some one you realy, realy dislike.

Dunno.  That's a possibility.  I had the recharge/jumper done at a Firestone dealer near my office and they supplied the fuse. 
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'03 ZR2 2dr Tracker, '02 XL-7 drivetrain and electrcs
XL-7 front coils
1.5" rear coil spacers
Monroe 32316 shocks w/2" extenders
235/70-16 Bridgestone Destination A/Ts on stock XL-7 Alloys RRO Rock Rails (Presently removed, as they rusted to all hell; all the bolts were rusted to dust.  Real nice, RRO...) http://www.trivia-nights.com
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Offline Vagabond

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2007, 07:54:49 AM »
Quote from: MKOLSEN22 on August 14, 2007, 07:14:54 AM
showed one 15 amp fuse that took a direct short across the battery and only melted the plastic around the fuse.
You don't really believe this, do you?
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Offline beercheck

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #13 on: August 14, 2007, 10:38:22 AM »
Well, after poring over the wiring and power distribution diagrams that don't say exactly where the A/C fuse is (except to say it's in neither the cabin nor underhood fuseblocks), I had no trouble finding it.  It's right next to the underhood fuseblock in it's own separate holder.  I have no idea why the garage tech couldn't find it back in the spring.

Anyway, I found it, and the 25A fuse was indeed blown (probably as a result of my having run the compressor for a year with insufficient refrigerant charge, but but who knows).  The wire running to/from that fuse was of a heavier gauge than the jumper the mechanic added in, so I suspect that had something to do with the jumper fuse getting hot but not blowing.  I haven't dug into how he connected the wire to the empty fuse slot, but it doesn't matter now anyway.

New 25A fuse = I got my cold air again.

For all the times I remote-start the truck with the A/C running....I'm probably pretty damned lucky nothing caught fire.



« Last Edit: August 14, 2007, 10:50:27 AM by beercheck »
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'03 ZR2 2dr Tracker, '02 XL-7 drivetrain and electrcs
XL-7 front coils
1.5" rear coil spacers
Monroe 32316 shocks w/2" extenders
235/70-16 Bridgestone Destination A/Ts on stock XL-7 Alloys RRO Rock Rails (Presently removed, as they rusted to all hell; all the bolts were rusted to dust.  Real nice, RRO...) http://www.trivia-nights.com
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Offline crikeymike

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Re: Holy Melting Fuse, Batman....
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2007, 01:27:57 PM »
Since we're on the subject of AC fuses, is there a fuse that controls just the electric AC fan?  Or is it controlled by the same fuse as pictured above.  My compressor kicks on, but fan won't work.
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