One night driving the headlight buzzer came on at that time I looked at my gauge cluster and they are all jacked up(tach buried, no volts, overheated which I know these are all wrong) SO I get the car home and find that my gauge fuse in blown. Now everytime I turn the key one click it will blow the gauge fuse. The car will start and run but when I turn the lights on with the door's closed the headlight buzzer stay's on. I have now diconnected the gauge cluster and the headlight switch and it is still blowing the fuse. Have you guy's ever heard of this? Could it be a short on the door jamb switch? This is a 1991 Z/28 with a 406 TPI and everything worked fine for months with the exception of the speedometer being off because of 373 gears and the tach has always been 1000 rpm lower than what the timing light showed.

Possible bad ignition switch. Could be shorting out internally.

Hey Dave, just got back online and got your email.

I would rule out the ignition switch if only one of multiple ignition fed fuses is blowing.

Have you tried pulling the chime module (audible warnings) under the dash? I'd suspect this little gizmo. If you remove the driver side knee panel, the chime module can be found to the right of the steering column, in the so called "convenience center". It's a bigger box (bigger than other boxes there). If you keep the door open with the key in, you will feel the sound when you put your finger on it.

Let us know.
Lou

Yes I pulled the chime module and replaced the door switch, still blowing fuse. Some guys are saying check the pink/black wire coming out of fuse block or even the lighter.

Don't bother with the cigarette lighter, it's on a different circuit.

There are multiple circuits that are powered from the GAUGES fuse. A few that come to mind:
- cruise control - if you can find the C211 connector under the steering column and disconnect it, that would help eliminate the cruise control.
- TC lockup - remove the connectors from the brake switches to eliminate that possibility.
- EGR, canister purge and A.I.R solenoids - remove all 4 connectors to eliminate.

Hope this helps.
Lou

I'm having the same problem..... What did you find was your solution???

I have the same problem.....no one knows wht is the problem???

ttt i wanna know what is causing this. My car is getting exhaust put on it now but when its done I've got to find out what is causing my gauge fuse to blow.....If someone knew what it was then thated save me a lot of time and effort.

OMG have exact same problem idk what happened but iwas driving home one day and than boom gauge fuse blows all gauges go dead i replaced the fuse worked again for about 5 mins than boom so i checked the only thing thats been added electricaly my singnal box for my 6-speed and the ground looked lose so i fixed it and i didnt help so now every time i go to start car i can here the gauges fuse blow plz someone tell me how to find solve problem and if i find out il let u know what happenes

I dunno if this helps, but my son and I did an extensive project on his 87 bird. We had removed his steering wheel in order to replace a sloppy turn signal switch and a broken wiper switch. This involved lots of disassembly of the column.

When we got it all back together, we had the same problem. The car kept blowing the fuse for the gauges. In our case, it turned out that we had pinched the cruise control signal wire, causing an intermittent short.

It's easy to check -- it is a black wire that you can unplug from a connector under the dash, near the base of the steering column.

First off you all need to get the self resetting circuit breakers for your gauge fuse . Then check everything as posted in #5 and also check the gauges for loose connections or corrosion . I had this problem and put the self resetting breaker in place and didn't check anything for a few years until my volt gauge started going lower and lower and everything was fine so I pulled the gauges and found the volt gauge was loose and corroded . I still have the circuit breaker inplace incase of this happening again .

I have this issue, and its a bare/pinched cruise wire in the column....

took me forever to figure that one out. Unplugging the cruise fixed the fuse issue, but I lost my wipers in the process! LOL

Guess I better get that fixed soon

-jason

I put a new fuse in, and it will idle all day without blowing. You can turn the steering wheel and it doesn't blow. But stop and go traffic will cause it to blow after about 20 minutes.

i have the same dam problem how can i fix it

do you have an aftermarket alarm system

no i dont

What fuse is blowing to be exact? Have you change your brake booster or messed with your steering column?

Do you have a digital dash?There's a little module that increases voltage on cold days so the lcd will brighten.Its in the drivers footwell where the steering column goes through the firewall.I've had this go bad.I also had a factory alarm system trembler switch located real close to the drivers side manifold.It melted or shorted out,don't which,and caused all of this.The headlight relay wiring ran through it.panhead201

no idont have digital dast its a 92 firebird i put a new cluster that has 140 mph i had a 120 i thought that fixed it i went 1.5 miles with the new one and poped the fuse then came home put a new fuse in it and it poped the fuse as soon as i turned the key on and also when the headlights r on i have that noise like u left your headlights on and your keys are on in the car sound

its the gauges fuse and no idid not mess with anything

Guys thru the ages: There is usually no magical single cause that will make ANY particular fuse blow. You're going to have a short or failed part that is unique to your vehicle - there is no one-size-fits-all easy answer. You are going to have to doing some informed troubleshooting.

Start by unplugging everything that the fuse runs. If the fuse stops blowing, plug things back in until it blows again. Then investigate whatever that is, and the wiring feeding it. A multimeter, and knowing how to use it, will help.

In the case of the gauges fuse, it runs a lot of stuff as mentioned previously:

http://92b4crs.tripod.com/86wiring/dia-pics/11-7.jpg

A lot of potential for things to go wrong.

ok, now find a schematic for the gauge fuse and test every wire or devices that runs off that fuse. you may have a short or defective unit on that circuit. finding a short in wiring is like finding a vacuum leak it is long and tedious.

on my car it was ram air unit's wiring harness. the stupid alarm place decided to use use it as a ground.

hey treefiddy well i checked a few things on my gauge fuse blowing again today its not the chime its not the cruise control so what could it be that link you have is for a 86 camaro will that work on my 92 firebird?

i fixed mine if you have the same problem unplug your cruise control under your hood and alls your chime box under your dash its the black box on your right side of your steering wheel and it should work it fixed mine me so very happy lol