So the insulation on this stand alone fuse rubbed off on the metal of the fuse box bracket and ground itself out. Now i have no headlights, interior lights, dash lights or parking lights. Car starts and runs fine.

All fuses appear to be okay.

Anyone know what this thing is and where I need to start looking ? I can't seem to locate it in the wiring diagrams on http://www.austinthirdgen.org.


thanks so much.

 

Check the fusible links at your starter , I wouldn't be surprised if you find one open .

 

Will do that now. I put a multi meter on it and there is still power, but only 2.5 volts. Could a burnt fusible link cause that ?

Thanks again.

 

This was spot on. One of the links at the starter was blown. Put a jumper wire in to test and everything worked again. You saved my probably a couple hours of chasing my tail.

Thank you !!!

 

Your welcome and I'm glad I could help .

My memory is somewhat lacking on that fuse , I'm sure it's protecting one of two circuits , either the power pull down unit for the trunk or the foglights , and I can't recall which . Were I forced to guess I believe it's for the trunk since my car has the same fuse and I have no factory foglights . So anyway , the reason you saw 2.5 volts instead of the expected zero volts is because modern Multimeters are SO good at taking their measurements without excessively loading the circuit that you were reading the small amount of voltage being passed through the burnt carbon of what was once the fusible link wire . Had you been using a 12 volt test light (of the incandescent type , not LED) you'd have had the bulb show no light since the current required to light even the tiniest incandescent bulb would have never been able to pass through the burnt remnants of the link , this should give you a scale of just how little power is drawn from the circuit by the meter while taking it's measurement . Some call this "bleed through" when there is just enough connection to pass tiny voltages detectable on a (modern) meter , but not nearly enough connection to pass the circuit's normal current . In the "good ol days" analog meters like my trusty Simpson 260 loaded the circuit much higher (20,000 ohms per volt dc VS a modern digital meter which is likely in the Megohms while taking it's measurement) and were not prone to such confusing indications .

 

Good info about the multi-meter !! Once the parts store opens and I can get the new fuse link installed i'm going to check which circuit that stand alone fuse if for and get it labeled for future reference.

Thanks again !