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Baffling electrics


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Had a good day at Prescott with the 7 sprint, just before the rain. Jumped in to drive home & no wipers. Checked fuses & blown. Replaced & immediately blew. Googled the issue & someone had similar issue & suggested starting the engine & then replacing the fuse.

Christ, it worked & got me home.

I can't figure how running the engine prevents the fuse blowing. Any suggestions?

Jerry

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The fuse powers a number of other things as well as the wipers (coolant level and fuel level indicators etc) so perhaps it's one of those whose state changes when the engine is running and so removes a short circuit ? 

 

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Won't be able to track this down for a week or two, so will get back when I find something. Indicators also on this fuse so a few circuits to check. Thanks for the clue Rob.

Jerry

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A further clue would be exactly when the fuse blows. Is it when the ignition is first switched on, or when the engine is cranked ? 

If it happens immediately when you turn on the ignition, you can find the short more quickly  by disconnecting the coil (to prevent it burning out) and replacing the fuse with a small 12v bulb (not LED), which should light with the ignition on because of the fault current. Leave it switched on and disconnect each circuit in turn until the lamp goes out - showing that is the faulty one. 

 

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Fuse blew as soon as ignition turned on (quite a flash from the 35amp fuse blowing).

Nice tip using a bulb, but the fuse is blowing to prevent a meltdown, so won't the test bulb create some of Mr Lucas's fabled smoke by completing the circuit?

Jerry

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No it will just light up. A small bulb ( i.e. interior festoon or similar) doesn't allow  much current so there will be no damage. 

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So I had to move the car & expected the fuse to blow as soon as I turned the ignition on. Of course, everything now works so I'll be tracing an intermittent fault. Doh!

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20 hours ago, jerrytr5 said:

So I had to move the car & expected the fuse to blow as soon as I turned the ignition on. Of course, everything now works so I'll be tracing an intermittent fault. Doh!

Welcome to the world of TR7 electrics, they were always problematical.

Stuart.

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  • 1 month later...

I know it's been a while, but other priorities got in the way. It still didn't blow the fuse again so I hunted down the coolant level control module which it turns out is a cylindrical gadget under the dash. Then I got lucky as it seems there have been previous issues here given the state of the multiplug (photo).

As the car doesn't have a low coolant indicator fitted I chose to terminate all the wires neatly (two black wires together) and see how it goes. One of the green wires powers the choke warning light and as the switch isn't fitted either was also eliminated. I was going to look at the low fuel warning, but I'm reasonably confident that the dodgy multi-connector was likely the issue.

Jerry

coolant thingy (3).jpg

coolant thingy (1).jpg

coolant thingy (2).jpg

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On 12/7/2024 at 9:39 PM, jerrytr5 said:

I know it's been a while, but other priorities got in the way. It still didn't blow the fuse again so I hunted down the coolant level control module which it turns out is a cylindrical gadget under the dash. Then I got lucky as it seems there have been previous issues here given the state of the multiplug (photo).

As the car doesn't have a low coolant indicator fitted I chose to terminate all the wires neatly (two black wires together) and see how it goes. One of the green wires powers the choke warning light and as the switch isn't fitted either was also eliminated. I was going to look at the low fuel warning, but I'm reasonably confident that the dodgy multi-connector was likely the issue.

Jerry

coolant thingy (3).jpg

coolant thingy (1).jpg

coolant thingy (2).jpg

TR7wiring was never its strong point :lol:

Stuart

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