Hey everyone. Well, this weekend is my birthday, and it looks like I already have a project at hand... unless someone can offer a simple solution. Today I was cruisin down the road, with nothing on except for my radio. By the way for those who dont know I have an 87 TA. I installed the radio myself, and Im really confident in my installation because Ive done atleast 15 installs in my life. Im very **** about everything. So anyway, all of a sudden, the radio just shuts off. Goes dead. So Im thinkin, ok, just a fuse. I pull into a parking lot, and sure enough, 20amp fuse is dead. I put a new one in....boom, it goes right away. So i drove back here to school so I could examine it. This is after stopping at napa to get a good supply of 20A fuses. I took my radio out, completly disconnected it so all that is left is stock harness. Popped another fuse in, boom. Killed that fuse too. I even tried puttin a fuse in with the door jamb button pressed in...same thing. SO...where should I start? All that is on that fuse is the radio, interior lights, and the power locks. Could it be that if an actuator goes bad it could short things out???? Ideas please. I have to either figure something out soon, or atleast get a good battle plan for this weekend. This problem came out of nowhere...no big bump, no messing with wires or switches, just popped up as many of the problems do in these cars. ANY help would be great...I need tunes. The sound of the V8 is the sweetest sound ever, but music is good for background noise Thanks in advance. Sorry this is a screenful to read.

Justin

 

check for loose change or a aluminum gum wrapper in the cig. lighter i think that is on that circuit as well

 

This may or may not help. My brother-in-law drives a T-Bird and was having the same problem. After many attempts of telling him its just a Ford and they do that, I decided to help him. Long story short, he had his hood taken off and repainted. The bozo painter cut and freyed the hood lamp wire, instead of just disconnecting it like normal. Anyways, the hood lamp was on the same circuit as interior and dash lights. Any time the freyed wire would touch anything under the hood, the circuit would short and his lights would just go out.

So, you may just want to check the hood lamp wire and/or in line fuse. I think it is on the same circuit, but not sure.

 

If you look behind the fusebox (takes a little acrobatics and a flashlight), there are actually two fuses running semi-parallel. One of them is the courtesy fuse. I'm not sure what the other one is off-hand, but you may want to take a look at that and see what's running off the second fuse. I say "semi-"parallel becuase they share the same ground wire. Take a look, you'll see what I mean.

 

hey that sounds like a possibility. i just recently replaced my lighter socket cuz the old one was all crusty...so i could use my radar detector Its very possible that the 12V wire from that could have dropped down and is hitting something metal. I will start there before i go rippin everything apart. I just hope the lighter socket is on that same circuit or Im back to square one. I know its not a hood light wire because I have no hood light. but im gonna check under the hood anyway. and about those two fuses behind the fuse block... im not sure i know what you are talkin about. I know there is a loose fuse floatin around for the rear hatch...but thats all i know of. and the hatch works, so i should be ok there. these are very good ideas tho, they give me a great place to start. thanks. anymore ideas are welcomed. thanks again!!
Justin

 

Hey jwfirebird...YOU SAVED THE DAY!! I didnt even think about the cig lighter...and sure enough, there was a dime stuck right at the bottom...welded in in fact because of the elec heat. I take my lighter out to plug in my radar detector, and i never put it back in...allowing all that change in my ashtray to slide right in. Plugged the fuse back in and viola! Everything is A-OK! Such a simple solution to a problem i was gonna work all weekend on. Thanks again!!!

Justin