Hey all,

Just about completed a 383 mini ram swap in my car.

Got it all together and realized i am completely melting my gauge fuse when the ignition is in the ON position.

The gauge fuse port is showing continuity to ground, aswell as every single Pink-black wire under my dash.

I cannot find the location of the short, and it never did this with the old 350 tpi.

ANY IDEAS/DIAGRAMS?

please help!

Is your voltage gauge working? Not sure on your car but on mine the alternator brown wire goes to the gauge fuse via the voltage gauge. Just a thought.

My voltage gauge seems to read around 8 volts without the engine running.
do you think the brown wire could be causing all of this?

Im assuming it goes brown wire to voltemeter. Then from there its pink/black to gauge cluster?


I know theres a whole bunch of things running off the gauge fuse. I just dont know where to start

Are you sure it's a dead short you're seeing, and not just a low resistance? For eg, the gauges fuse ciruits thru the brake warning bulb, to handbrake switch, and to ground. If the handbrake is on, you will be seeing the low resistance of the bulb.

Other connected devices may have a similar effect on a dmm, eg the sold state vss.

That is correct. The reason I thought of that wire first was because the alternator has the potential to melt a fuse. Your just going to have to check each circuit one by one til you find the culprit.

thats kind of what was confusing me since i figured a short would just blow the fuse.


ill just have to sort it out.

anyone have any diagrams for the gauge fuse?

Quick thought. I'm not at home now so I can't check it out but do you have the right size fuse in there? I think mine is a 10.

This issue is driving me nuts. Alternator is wired correctly. still melting this fuse.

Ive checked the brake switch, TCC solenoid, cruise control and wiring, the gauges. All sensors on this circuit.
i cant figure out which component is causing this over amping condition.

ANYONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS?

UPDATE:
DONT USE SHITTY HARBOR FREIGHT FUSES.

i did damage to my fuse box when they melted instead of popped.

Still have a short. any ideas?

Not sure if this would work but I would try connecting one end of a continuity tester to a good ground with the battery positive cable disconnected disconnected and then probing the wires with the other end of the tester one by one until I got no or some resistance. I think that would reveal a short.

i remember having to replace or rewire things on that circuit a long time ago, because they stuck a bunch of other stuff on it. just briefly looking i see the a/c relay, throttle kicker relay, a/t switch, etc. i would go through the diagram and use a meter with the battery disconnected, to that fuse and ground, it should read 0. then disconnect stuff until the meter shows open. that should give you a direction. do you have the diagrams for it?

Started using bussman fuses. Still blowing them. I have all of the corresponding wiring diagrams and I still can't find this damn short.

I'm at my wits end unless I'm completely missing something.
Done all i can and I wanna drive my new 383!!!

Any commonly found suspects to blowing the gauges fuse?
I can't find the chime module... Which leads me to believe its already been taken out by a previous owner

that wire goes all over and its probably melted insulation off you just have to take the dash apart and follow it everywhere

The short goes away when i unplug the C207 Connector under the dash...

ideas?

whats on c207? all i have is the crap haynes type diagrams