[madness_spirit]

this is gonna sound pretty silly, but I was doing some mods to my 97 sable and I shorted the wire for the courtesy lamp at the bottom of the dash. Now none of my courtesy lamps work and I cant find a fuse that is blown. I have taken out every single one and tested them. where should I be looking

 

[madness_spirit]

Just thought I would let you guys know, I have a chilton repair manual, and it doesnt even show a fuse for the courtesy lamps. Anyone know which fuse is for the lights. Maybe I missed something. How is it a gen 3 taurus can have such hard electrical to figure out. I even managed to rewire my 78 honda motorcycle without a manual, I cant even find a schematic for the interior lighting.

 

[viper]

After looking in my Haynes Repair Manual, "the typical courtesy and dome lamp system", wiring diagram shows that Fuse 27, 10amp is what you should be looking for.

Good Luck

 

[madness_spirit]

Yeah I just checked over all my fuses again and realized I missed a couple, I found that one blown, replaced it, works fine. On my way out my door now to buy a haynes manual instead.

 

[Xmann01]

Originally posted by madness_spirit@May 23 2004, 03:28 PM
Yeah I just checked over all my fuses again and realized I missed a couple, I found that one blown, replaced it, works fine. On my way out my door now to buy a haynes manual instead.

Another thing you might want to do in the future should you ever have another electrical problem is connect a test light to a good ground and touch each fuse on both sides (while still in the fuse box) and check for power on both sides of the fuse. Of course you'll find some fuses that wont have power on either side because those can be a key on engine running circuit or a start position on circuit. All you'll have to look for is one side power and one side no power and that'll help you find blown fuses really fast and eliminate the chance of missing one.

 

[madness_spirit]

actually the way I tested them is by taking my multimeter and testing for resistance on each of the fuses. just as easy as a test light and far more effective. Just tap the two ends from the multimeter to those tiny little peices of metal that are visible. If you dont have continuity they are bad. I just missed a couple the first time cause it was dark out

 

[Xmann01]

Originally posted by madness_spirit@May 23 2004, 08:20 PM
actually the way I tested them is by taking my multimeter and testing for resistance on each of the fuses. just as easy as a test light and far more effective. Just tap the two ends from the multimeter to those tiny little peices of metal that are visible. If you dont have continuity they are bad. I just missed a couple the first time cause it was dark out

Its not really "more" effective. It's just as effective but I wouldn't want power to go through my ohm meter. Its just a quick method I use and I never miss anything. I'm very experienced with electrical problems and am always the guy everyone goes to for the electrical gremlins But I guess everyone has their methods.

 

[madness_spirit]

well I dont test with the key on or anything, multimeter is fine even if there is a little voltage present. I say more effective because I dont have to turn everything on. Plus if you happen to have a short in your system it wouldnt be strange to get voltage on a blown fuse. A short on one side could potentially cause you to have voltage on that side, even when there should be none. My experience is that I blow more fuses because of shorts than anything else so I wouldnt really want to rely on a method that could prove unreliable in the case of a short. No offense or anything, I mean whatever works for you works. Probably the best thing I can do in the future to make sure that I dont miss a fuse or something like that is to tell myself dont start wiring projects at 11 at night

 

[Xmann01]

Originally posted by madness_spirit@May 24 2004, 08:11 PM
well I dont test with the key on or anything, multimeter is fine even if there is a little voltage present. I say more effective because I dont have to turn everything on. Plus if you happen to have a short in your system it wouldnt be strange to get voltage on a blown fuse. A short on one side could potentially cause you to have voltage on that side, even when there should be none. My experience is that I blow more fuses because of shorts than anything else so I wouldnt really want to rely on a method that could prove unreliable in the case of a short. No offense or anything, I mean whatever works for you works. Probably the best thing I can do in the future to make sure that I dont miss a fuse or something like that is to tell myself dont start wiring projects at 11 at night

Technically if there was a short to power then you would have continuity either way .