[fritter]

Hi all,
I was driving home last night when I suddenly lost all electrics.

I found that the ignition fuseable link had blown.

I replaced it but that blew straight away.
Tried a 50 amp this morning but that blew as well.

Can see any obvious shorts and I'm stuck on the side of the road in the rain.

Anyone got any clues where to look. It's an 89 but.
Thanks

[royce]

blow straight away or blow once you turn the ignition on?

[fritter]

Soon as I turn the ignition key.

[royce]

that narrows the fault to post ignition switch at least

pull all the fuses related to ignition out and try again

Were your wipers on at the time?

[fritter]

Yep wipes were on.
Tool out the fuse for wipers, heater as they were both on.
Checked the ignition coil fuse and It's ok.
Blew the link again.

[fritter]

Pulled all the interior fuses and then tried it with a 60 amp link.

It blew as soon as I turned the key to the ignition position.

I'm guessing that it would have to a pretty chunky short to blow a 60 amp fuse without smoking first.

The only two cables from the battery heavy enough that I can see are the alt and the starter.

Could it be an internal short in the alternator?

Has anyone ever seen that happen? The alternator's 22 years old so it's about due to be replaced anyway.

Now to get it home where I can work on the car without trucks passing three feet away.

[royce]

none of those are on the ignition circuit

if you arent blowing any other fuses I would next check from switch to fuse panel

to save blowing links, fasion up a tester with a spotlight bulb, pull the fuse out and stick bulb positive in one terminal and negative on the other, when the bulb lights you are drawing power

[fritter]

Thanks Royce.

Good idea. At $6 per fuse it's getting expensive.

I'll start tracing it back from the switch as soon as I get it home.

Time dry off, warm up and have breakfast.

[fritter]

All working again.

I'm not sure exactly where the problem was but I fiddled with the cables to the fuse box and it worked!

You were right Royce.

Legend.

[jimbo_jones]

you might want to find out what it was incase it happens again

[fritter]

yeah i plan to.

Next time I might not be so lucky and be alot more than 1km from home.

P.S. Your rig's looking good Jimbo.

[royce]

if jiggling around the fusebox sorted it try unscrewing it and just looking around for maybe a bit of metal stuck in there or a rubbing wire