Giovanni

Last week I drove the car to the airport and after 15 minutes I noticed the temperature gauge was just climbing. When I pulled on the side of the road I noticed the fans were not working. Both fans had blow fuses. I replaced the fuses but unfortunately I had to use a 15a fuse on the passenger side fan. When I got back home the fuse has literally melted in half!! The other fuse was fine.

When inspecting the wires I noted the passenger side fan has a short at the fan motor. I fixed the short, installed a new 30a fuse in the fuse panel and it worked fine. But after 2-3 minutes I noticed that both fuses got pretty hot. Both fans were still cold to the touch and so were the wires that goes to the fan motors. Does that mean I have a short elsewhere or is it just normal for the fuses to get that hot???

Helpppp... I am clueless when it comes to electric gremlins.

RFJ

I can tell you that fuses should not get that hot, that said i do not know enough about 928's to be of much help yet. best, Ray

Mrmerlin

more than likely you need to put new connectors on the at the fans i would guess that they are corroded and making poor contact also clean the fuse holders and the fuses

dr bob

^^^^^ ECHO Echo echo echo echo

dr bob

I've seen 30A thermal overloads that plug into the fuse panel. I've also ssen them with #10 studs on them to accept ring terminals. If the fuseholder is intact, I'd try the plug-ins. They have extended blades on them for more contact area. If the fuseholder is damaged, my temptation would be to install the one with studs back in the battery box at the head-end of each of then the fan wires, so the whole cable is protected. Then jumper the fuse panel connections with #12 wire and soldered spades, or rewire the circuit direct from the external pins. Many more-modern cars use the thermal overloads/breakers to protect these critical circuits. They are self-resetting, so even a dragging fan motor will still run part of the time.

At 20+ years old now, I'm starting to think that my radiator is due for a cleaning and resealing with a new PS tank at minimum. It's always had good coolant in it so it will be interesting to see what's inside. I hear the fans cycling more than I remember from its earlier days, a sign that I'm getting into the design margins more than I should. It still holds temp just fine on 90+ days, but it seems like it's taking more fans to do it.

jthwan22

I use plug in circuit braker for both fan and fuel pump. I use the long blade kind on the left. They are self reseting and won't melt. http://www.electerm.com/breaker.html

I found them at a local Auto Zone

Giovanni

Is it like this one: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=122799_0_0_

WallyP

If there is heat, there is resistance. Replacing meltable fuses with non-meltable breakers is not a good idea unless you carefully clean the Central Electric Panel fuseholders where they will be installed. If you don't remove the resistance and the new breakers don't melt, the Central Electric fuse blocks will.

RFJ

Hi all, I would put one caution on self reseting breakers and use breakers that have to be reset manually, just for safety's sake. Ray

RFJ

Hi Wally, guess i was reading your mind. Best,Ray

John Speake

If the fuse is running current below its rating then heat mean too much resistance in the fuse connectors. I believe some people have substituted other heavy duty fuse connectors to overcome this problem.

Giovanni

So how can I test and see where the problem is?

John Speake

You have cleared the short, so the main problem is fixed. But you still have the remaining problem that the fuses are running too hot. THat is because there is too much resistance in the fuse holders.

Clean, tighten and see of they run cooler, if still (say) >60degC then think about new heavy duty holders, off the CE panel.

Also suggest make sure you have a good make of fuse, I remember some people here having problems with Chinese fuses.

Giovanni

Thanks John. I need to remove the CE panel. When the fuses melted it also melted a small portion of the panel. Good thing that I have a CE panel laying around :-).

jthwan22

That is the one. I only break off 1 of the tab so there is plenty of surface contact for the current to flow thru.

I also clean the contact at the CE panel and put a dab of dielectric greae on it.