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Had a short now car is dead

S

svttour

Rico Suave
Joined
Aug 13, 2001
Messages
9,704
Location
MIAMI
The other day I was finishing up putting my dash together after my guage cluster lights wouldnt light up. I had a live wire touching other wires and that caused my fuse31 to keep blowing. With the help of Bill (Starjammir) over the phone I was able to find it and fix it. As Im putting everything together I turned my radio on and I was pushing up some wiring under the steering column access panel when I heard a small pop. Now I have nothing working. No headlights, no turn signals, no alarm, no windows, my strobes dont work, radio only turns on when I hit the clock button just to show the time, No crank or anything. What does work are the power locks, interior lights but not the dash lights, and hazads. Ive checked all engine bay fuses including the #1 80amp fuse and they are fine. What do I do now?
 
Get a strong light and examine all the wires you could have pushed that caused the pop? If you see any melting or burn marks check those circuits, maybe a wire is burnt thru?

Mike
 
did you try the fusebox under the dash? theres a number of fuses kind of back-left underneath the console (if your sitting in the drivers seat) near the fuel cut-off switch.

another thought: maybe a relay went bad somewhere?
 
Ive looked under the dash at those fuses and relays. Everything is fine. I took a long wire and put it from the battery pos terminal to the alarm connection and everything lit up, got the car started and everything. Only thing that didnt work were the foglights. However as soon as I pulled that cable that I routed from the pos terminal to the alarm pos wire everything went dead again. Somehow Im not getting power through the firewall not sure where to look from here.
 
Just a thought in the front of the battery fuse box is a series of three fuses. These come from the battery to the three fuses then into various other parts, including feeding some of the interior fuse panel. That said you need to first find the wire that shorted I'd guess there that is is one of the #12's either red, purple/white, yellow/green, almost any color but black which is ground. I am not sure which wires you would have been pushing around in there if they are in the harness and properly supported they are not in the way. Could it have been some in the area of the steerubg column / ignition switch? That would sound about right for causing power disruption in that area. All that stuff that you say doesn't work goes through the power to the column.

Start there and work back to a point where you find power. Like is there power to the ignition? then is the wire good to the fuse box. Is there power at the fuse box? etc somewhere there has to be a bad shorted wire (the pop) Then if all those fuses in the interior fuse box are good go to the battery fuse box under the hood. I'd bet it has to do with those three 60 or 80 amp fuses there. You need to test for both continunity and power.

My 2 cents,
Happy New Year,
AF
 
Thanks for the reply. Your on the right track. I have no power at the steering column. I do have interior lights and when I remove certain fuses the power cuts off so I know that I have power to the fuse box. When I looked at those 3 fuses in the engine bay, the connections are still good but they were popped out i pushed it back in but nothing ill check them again.
 
There are multipule power feeds to the interior fuse box. Just because you have power for one area does not automatically ensure you have power to all areas. You need to do a continunity check on the power wires to the steering column. First disconnect the battery then do those checks. Unplug the two big connectors on the fuse box and check for the wire that is toast.

You must also check across the fuses in the battery junction box to see if they are good.

good luck,
AF
 
In the engine bay I actually tested the fuses with a light tester. In the car I pulled each one out one by one and visually inspected the bridge between the fuse.

Aussie- How do I do a continuity check to the wires or fuses once the battery is disconnected? I will remove the wires to the fuse box and see if any are toast. Im getting ready to remove my dash again because working on the car crouched down all the time isnt fun and its a pain in the back literally. With the dash removed I might be able to see the problem staring me in the face.
 
I should have been clearer. You want to test the wires that go the the steering column, since that is the suspect area. We know there is a short in there someplace. You disconnect the battery so there isn't power if you happen to get to the wrong wire. That would blow your tester. Then I would disconnect the connectors on the column and attach one end of the tester to a ground spot on the dash. Then test each wire and see if it lights on something other than a ground. If you fine say a orange/yellow wire (just picked colors) and you fine the tester lights that could be the one. Next see where that wire runs. It should go to one of the connectors on the fuse box. I'd think it was one of those two large connectors. They unplug easy and you can find a wire the same color and see if it is also grounded. IF so that is more indication. Lastly put your tester on each end of that wire and see if you get the light. If no then I'd try to trace it through the harness for wires from the steering colunm to the fuse box connectors it is not that hard there. Find the break and repair it.

The wires that come from the battery junction box to the fuse box come via the connectors on the back side of the fuse box. If necessary you can check for power using a circuit tester to see if the proper wires are hot.

You need the two different testers to accomplish this. A circuit tester has a light in it that is powered by the circuit. The continunity tester has a light powered by a battery to test the wires themselves. Don't get them mixed up or the continunity tester will go pop.

Please feel free to PM me if I can help more. I have taken this area apart several times and made major changes to my Tour circuits.

Regards,
AF
 
You don't have a short if you were able to energize the circuit with a jumper. If you had a short the jumper would have melted. You must have an open. Unlikely that you have an open wire ( they have to really melt badly to open) so I'd concentrate on loose connectors or fuses. Key might be the fog's not working. Trace that circuit ( which I believe also powers the alternator field through the charging indicator light in the dash).
 
twocontours said:
You don't have a short if you were able to energize the circuit with a jumper. If you had a short the jumper would have melted. You must have an open. Unlikely that you have an open wire ( they have to really melt badly to open) so I'd concentrate on loose connectors or fuses. Key might be the fog's not working. Trace that circuit ( which I believe also powers the alternator field through the charging indicator light in the dash).
Click to expand...

Are you saying it could be the mega fuse?
 
No, Mega fuse is in the output of the alternator, the fog lite fuse provides power to energize the alternator fields. I'd check the interior fuse panel and all the connectors on the back of the fuse panel.
 
twocontours said:
No, Mega fuse is in the output of the alternator, the fog lite fuse provides power to energize the alternator fields. I'd check the interior fuse panel and all the connectors on the back of the fuse panel.
Click to expand...
Your Tours are wired differently than the 99's the fog lights do no longer affect the atl as they did. There are some things that are just 99-00. You are right that it takes a bit to make an open circuit, but the did describe a pop which (to me) indicates a short on a #12 power wire. This can be enough to cause an open. Even when the jumper was in place it was not within a circuit it bypassed the fuse box and who knows what all portions of the harness. Searching for an open or even just a short is what the testing is about. Since we don't have fuseable links in this it is fairly straight forward. It is either a fuse or wire. He has said he checked all the fuses and they are good. That leaves wires, and or a melted connector. The connectors to the steering column area with the exception of the headlight switch don't seem a prone to meltdown as in other areas in the ones I have taken apart. Since he is of the mind that he is not getting power through the firewall it is easy to pull fuses and see if there is power on the battery side of the fuses. However due to hearing the pop inside the car and from under the dash / steering column area to me that would be the place to begin. I'd first look to any added aftermarket taps/connections, then the rest of the wiring.

My 2 cents,
AF
 
it's the blue fuse in the fuse box in the engine bay. I shorted my ignition wire and that's the one that popped. It wouldn't let me start the car, turn on lights or anything but the interior lights still worked. Old thread but I thought I'd help anyway. It took me a bit to find out the answer to this headlight and ignition running off the same fuse blowing crap.
 
the 15amp fuse in the engine bay is good. I jumped the car again trying t ofind a source and now I got the fogs to work. Still have nothing when I remove the wire though. Im starting to loose my mind.
 
Have you checked the power side of the fuses in the interior fusebox? Using your tester connect one end to a ground then open the fuse box and just probe the wires at the two large connectors. There is room to stick the probe in next to the wires. Check them all, most should be power out. Another approach is to pull each fuse and test the power side of it. IF you have power there then it has to be between there and the steering column. Do you have head lights? how about the HVAC fan? If you consider it, are the things that are not working ones that are dependent on the key being on? how about acc on? I'm thinking it might even be in the ignition switch. The fogs power is controlled through the multipurpose switch (turn signal / brights). Unless you have done the fog light mod. Some of the power that goes through that is from the ignition switch some is direct from a fuse. Having more than one fee to a connector is what makes this a challenge. Do you have the ford CD for the 99's. It has a good pinout of the two large connectors at the fusebox.

Wish you were closer..

AF
 
Ill try that tomorrow. I do have the fog light mod. with no jumper i have only hazards, clock illumination from radio when button pressed, interior lighting, and horn. With jumper everything is A.OK.
 
When you connect the jumper where do you connect it? You are going from the battery to? Do you have aftermarket items added to your electrical system? Other than the fog light mod have you made other changes under there? Do you have a ford CD?
 
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