tie pilot

A few days ago, while driving down a bumpy road, I hit the switch to turn on my A/C and noticed it wasn't cold . The fan still worked, but no compressor. What do you know, no clock either and - yep - no power mirrors. I'd been here before, so I knew that meant Cigar 10A fuse had gone bad. Replaced it and turned the key on, and the fuse blew again in a few seconds. Got a second new fuse and it blew as soon as I turned the key on. And now, not even the fan works = (

What could be causing this? Where should I start?

thanks.

fc3stech

you got a Short to ground somewhere in that circuit meaning the wires are grounding somewhere where they are not suppose to causing little or no resistance in that circuit and a over load in amperage on that fuse, trace power and ground from the wiring schematic, somewhere in that circuit the insulation could have worn off and is touching bare frame or another wire something metal ok, if your not good with wiring diagrams just start looking at all the wires involved in that circuit and look for the worn insulation, oh one more tip this is a ghetto way but it could just work for you, bring your car somewhere real dark with no lights on replace the fuse again and have someone turn the key on while your in the engine bay as soon as they turn the key the short to ground may spark just as the fuse blows showing you where it is, it may not be that easy though since it may be in the dash or in the car somewhere hope this helps I have done this before and it worked by accident because I was working on a friends car in poor lighting

tie pilot

dang. thanks (I guess!)

HAILERS

Cigar fuse feeds the cigar lighter, remote mirrors, Warning and digital clock, and the heater and air conditoner system.

So you disconnect the plug from each item til the short goes away and now you know where the problem lies.

It's a blue/black wire for the a/c system. It feeds the A/C main fuse and it also branches off and feeds the Logicon. I guess just pull the plug off the a/c main fuse and see what happens. Nothing happens then pull the plug off the logicon and see if the fuse blows.

Do the same with the power mirror plug and the cigar connector.

See the wiring diagrams. That's for a series four. Series five probably similar.

I THINK the a/c main fuse is up in front of the radiator, to the left side. See FSM for location.

tie pilot

thanks! I will consult my FSM. Here's hoping it's the cigar lighter (I can live without that for a while )

one other thing, the wipers also died at the same time. I didn't think they ran off the same fuse... do they?


/ I seriously need to stop driving the 7 out to my parents house (BUMPY DIRT ROAD HELL!!!)

HAILERS

Seperate fuses. http://www.mazdamark.com/fusecover.jpg Try jiggling the ignition switch key with the wipers turned on. It could be a so, so ignition switch for the wipers.