I have an 88 tii and my 80amp main fuse blew last night and I got a replacement but it also blew... Any idea what could be causing this?

 

make sure that you're connecting your battery cables correctly. positive to positive and negative to negative.

 

For one, do not keep replacing It. It'll just blow again...were you were working on your car or simular, before It continuously began to pop on you, for example?

 

My car ran fine before... then the alternator belt broke and then after I fixed it and drove it once... I went to leave and nothing... that when the fuse blew.
the smaller wire comming off of the positive battery terminal started to melt... any ideas? It's my daily droveso I gotta get it back on the road... thanks

 

Did you unhook any of the contacts on the alternator?

 

Disconnect the large wire on the alternator and set it to the side where it can't short out. Then reinstall the fuse. Turn the key to ON. Wait a few minutes and see if it blows. Not blown? Try starting the car. Starts? Idle for a few minutes. Still good? Remove the alternator and take it to a shop and have it tested. Maybe befor that....check the wires at the alternator for possible shorts to ground. Shouldn't take more than thirty minutes to do most of the above/

 

I'll get another fuse and try it today. but the guy I bought the car off of got the stock tii hood stolen so I have the stock intercooler setup like fmic. so I wonder what it would be grounding on... what is the importance of the smaller of the two power wires comming from the battery cause it started to melt down when I replaced the fus and inspected the fuse box.

any more info would be apreciated....

thank

 

One small wire is black/white and is for regulation, but it's protected by a fuse so it should not have melted.

The other wire is white/black and goes to a relay in the CPU and is a source of ground for the relay that determines if your idiot lights come on when the key is to ON and the engine is not running. It should not melt either.

Maybe the alternator flipped its belt because it locked up and is shorted out internally in some way? Just press on and do what was suggested in the earlier post. It might/might not prove something.

 

One small wir

 

this happened to me when i connected the battery cables wrong. D'oh

 

OOOps. I read it wrong. Two wires off the BATTERY, not the alternator. Sorry 'bout that.
'

 

A couple things I forgot to mention:
This is all happening only when I hook the car up to jumper cables, I don't even get a chance to turn the key, and the battery is still dead to this day because I can't get the car to start to charge it...
Also, On my previous attempt to jump start the car the smaller red wire didn't melt away its insulation or anything, but the only lights that would come on in the car while connected to the jumper cables were the door open lights (only when the doors were closed ???) and the security light. The car wouldn't start, not a sound when I turned the key. Then I discovered it was the main fuse, then all this happened.




I was just thinking...the smaller red wire coming off the positive terminal of the battery goes to the fuse box right? And the bigger one goes to the starter?

Well to make room for this crazy FMIC setup the previous owner had, he unbolted the fuse box from the chasis, to make room for the IC piping. So isn't it possible that the fuse box ground was one of those bolts holding it to the chasis? So maybe thats where the short is? Does the fuse box even have a ground? Lol. I dunno, its 3am and I'm just brain storming so let me know if I'm on the right track.

Thanks again.

 

The fuse box does not ground. Its plastic and clips onto a metal bracket which is bolted to the fender. It sends power to things which are then in turned grounded.

 

so where should I check for a short? Since the smaller red wire goes to the fuse box, but only the main fuse blows...how do I know what part is shorting out?

 

Id check the wire from the battery to the fuse box to see if anything is exposed.

 

alright, isn't that the smaller red one? I would just go out and look but its cold as **** at 4am in PA. Anyway if it is that wire is pretty much all exposed now, all the insulation burned off.

 

Uh yeah. Im not a TOTAL electrical whiz, but you should replace it.

 

I just heard that the smaller wire also goes to the alternator, not just the fuse box. Alright well now I've got a list of **** to look for once the sun comes up.

 

and yeah...I figured I would replace it..

 

Well, if its exposed, ***** going to be melting and blowing left and right.

 

yeah, you're right.

 

lol replace that **** man! good luck finding the problem (hopefuly thats it).

 

If the Alt is good, give the alternator wires a good going over, make sure they're hookup right. Check the wire harness behind the alt, for exposed wires, shorting against the alt.

Here're the 80amp Fuse routing:

1. Smaller wire: Runs from battery positive to left side Fuse-Box [the side facing battery]

2. Fuse-Box right side wire [the side facing windshield]: Runs along driver-side fender, passes shock tower, loops near oil pedestal and back to alternator, connects under Alt rubber boot... Good potential spot for shorted wire.

Good luck

* Above is on my best recollection

 

Well I went out and looked at it today with a list of things to look for from a bunch of forums. I didn't find a damn thing, not one exposed wire. The smaller red wire from the battery goes into a loom and a similar red wire comes out of a loom and plugs into the bottom of the fuse box, right below the head light fuse. That wire is fine. I checked the alternator connectors and everything nearby and it all looked fine. So now I have work in a few hours and still no idea whats goin on with my car, lol.