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I've recent been told by a passing motorist my brake lights aren't working, everything else except foe hazard lights work. I discovered the haz/brake fuse broken so I swapped it with a new one, blown! Tried a 25amp.. blown!
The only thing I've done to the car recently is put new speakers in the front and back.
Any thoughts on where I may have pinched a wire and/or which color of wire to look for?
Last edited by Tony Unrau; Jun 22, 2023 at 06:37 PM.
............. I discovered the haz/brake fuse broken so I swapped it with a new one, blown! Tried a 25amp.. blown!.....
For future reference, the fuse GM supplied for that circuit is 20A. Trying fuses of a larger rating to see if they won't blow is literally asking for a wiring harness fire, the modern day equivalent of the ol "penny in the fusebox" trick.
Unless you've got some strange desire to meet your local firefighters, you'd best abandon that method of troubleshooting from here on out, there is nothing that's blowing a 20A fuse that's gonna magically get fixed by using a 25
For future reference, the fuse GM supplied for that circuit is 20A. Trying fuses of a larger rating to see if they won't blow is literally asking for a wiring harness fire, the modern day equivalent of the ol "penny in the fusebox" trick.
Unless you've got some strange desire to meet your local firefighters, you'd best abandon that method of troubleshooting from here on out, there is nothing that's blowing a 20A fuse that's gonna magically get fixed by using a 25
knew it was a bad idea but decided to try it anyway because it was the only fuse i had left on hand.
The only thing I've done to the car recently is put new speakers in the front and back.
This is the place to start troubleshooting; re-trace all the work you did, systematically inspecting all the wiring anywhere nearby. Look for a wire that got pinched under a mounting bolt, etc. A diagram for the brake light circuit from the factory shop manual will provide the color code(s) for the wires in question.
Color code for the wire that supplies both the brake lights & hazards is orange. It (the orange wire) is quite short; goes from the fusebox to the vicinity of the bottom of the column, where it connects to the BL sw and the harness for the TS sw. Goes to the BL sw first if memory serves but don't count on that as being certain. It is THE ONLY wire in that circuit that's hot all the time; i.e. that will pop the fuse no matter whether the BLs or hazards are turned on or not.
Definitely look for it (the orange wire) to be pinched, chafed, melted through, stripped and the conductor touching ground, etc. In a word, damaged. Probably either inflicted during the stereo work or prior damage freshly brought into contact with bare metal.
Color code for the wire that supplies both the brake lights & hazards is orange. It (the orange wire) is quite short; goes from the fusebox to the vicinity of the bottom of the column, where it connects to the BL sw and the harness for the TS sw. Goes to the BL sw first if memory serves but don't count on that as being certain. It is THE ONLY wire in that circuit that's hot all the time; i.e. that will pop the fuse no matter whether the BLs or hazards are turned on or not.
Thanks sofakingdom, thats the exact info i was looking for.
I know I was a little rough with the stereo wiring pulling on it too hard in order to fit it properly into a bezel I'm making for it. I think I must have put too much stress on that orange wire and pressed it into a sharp edge grounding it to the car. After loosening up the wiring back there I decided to try another 20 amp fuse and that seemed to do the trick.
Because of this situation I've decided to order a factory service manual for future endeavors, I think it'd be excellent to have on hand even just for the wiring diagrams.
For future reference, the fuse GM supplied for that circuit is 20A. Trying fuses of a larger rating to see if they won't blow is literally asking for a wiring harness fire, the modern day equivalent of the ol "penny in the fusebox" trick.
Unless you've got some strange desire to meet your local firefighters, you'd best abandon that method of troubleshooting from here on out, there is nothing that's blowing a 20A fuse that's gonna magically get fixed by using a 25
Listen exactly to @OrangeBird He is providing Safety Information that too often is ignored/ overlooked.
Fuses serve multiple purposes, but the Main SAFETY aspect of the Fuse...
Is for the Fuse Conductor (WIRE) to melt in a Relatively SAFE Environment, Instead of a section of Wire in the Circuit melting/ overheating around flammable materials (or even just atmosphere) and causing a FIRE!
THIS IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM,SHOULD THIS BE TAKEN LIGHTLY!!!
DO NOT INSTALL HIGHER AMPACITY FUSES!
EVER!!!
Last edited by vorteciroc; Jun 16, 2023 at 09:24 PM.
OP, update your profile or state exactly what model and year car you're working on, this is valuable information to those trying to help as an 82 4-cylinder Camaro's wiring is vastly different from a 92 tune port V8.
OP, update your profile or state exactly what model and year car you're working on, this is valuable information to those trying to help as an 82 4-cylinder Camaro's wiring is vastly different from a 92 tune port V8.
I agree 100%, with ten years worth of variation, knowing which wiring diagrams to be looking at sure helps to fine tune the advice
I've done some digging and all of the wiring going from the fuse to what appears to be the tail light panel? Not sure what it's called.. seems like it's in good condition.
I got the fuse to blow again by moving the wiring down there around and the only place I can tell that seems to be damaged appears to be near the PCM, it looks like while doing up the stereo I may have pressed it tight against the metal under there and chaffed it.
Under steering column, fuse panel shown above, orange wire running to some sort of wiring hub. PCM computer to the left and wire is slightly melted/chaffed on the back side of it, out of view. As seen from below the steering column, tilted to the right towards the stereo deck location. View of the same wire running to the pcm as seen through the entrance to the stereo deck hole.
Well, repair the damaged wire and protect it from further misadventures, maybe some split loom covering for example, and hope for the best.
I always like to be able to positively unmistakably unambiguously morally legally ethically and sincerely identify the actual cause of such a thing before I consider my trauma fully delivered. Butt hay, if the fuse doesn't blow anymore, then I guess, the fuse doesn't blow anymore. Which is probably a good thing. Assuming of course that the new fuse is of the correct rating.
As usual, I am in complete agreement with @sofakingdom .
I'm not certain...
Trying to go off of what I can make out in the Images Posted...
I believe you have an arrow pointing at the "Driver's Convenience Center" and NOT the PCM.
I could be wrong, it's difficult to tell from the Images for certain.
However, the "Driver's Convenience Center" contains the Flasher-Module for the Hazard-Light Circuit.
I would further inspect this, after repairing any damaged Wiring already found.
Damaged Wiring should never be left alone once found.
It will often create INTERMITTENT PROBLEMS that will drive a person mad!
Thanks guys, going to do some more inspecting and see if I can trace down the exact spot the wire is grounding down. Just working on home renos at the same time so I suppose priorities, never seems there's enough time in a day.
Agree completely of course about using the wrong fuse by the way, I managed to find some resettable 20 amp fuses but I'm not sure I trust them. I put one in, just touching the tips of the fuse to the panel and it didn't trip immediately. I could hear the wire still grounding out so I went back to a normal fuse. *gulp*
