BTN Fuse

I have an electrical drain in my wife's escort. When I have my tester light connected I get a strong glow that goes away when I pull the BTN fuse. Any one have an idea as to what is going on? What does the BTN fuse do? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Charging System, Power Door Locks, Tail Lights, Brake Lights, Hazard Flashers and "Belt" (whatever that is!)

Maybe disconnect the alternator and see if the drain stops.

Thanks! I just installed a new voltage regulator, the old one was fried and I exploded a battery due to overcharge, but I'm still getting the drain. Any other suggestions?

You really need a amp draw meter on it and check with the battery hooked up.
The computers draw juice when you hook a test light up on it and give a false reading.
MT

You really need a amp draw meter on it and check with the battery hooked up.
The computers draw juice when you hook a test light up on it and give a false reading.
MT

So maybe it's fixed since you found a major problem and repaired it. :confused:

Well, I haven't tried to see if that keeps the battery from draining, I have a kill switch on the negative side of the battery for the time-being while I try to repair the problem. I'll drive the car today and leave the kill switch in contact and see if I get the drain. Here's another thing, when I start the car, the wipers work, even when they are in the "off" position. I can't make them stop when the car is running, unless I pop the hood and physically unhook the motor. Any help on that one?

you just found your short.

There are two plugs on the wiper motor. A black one on the front and gray one on the bottom. On the black one is a solid blue wire. If you cut this wire (or better yet remove the connector from inside the plug) then the wipers should stop when you turn the wiper switch off. They won't 'park' themselves they will just stop at whatever point they are at when you turn off the switch. You'll have to park the wipers by turning the switch off at the right moment. It's that or buy a new wiper motor assembly. The only purpose of the blue wire is to 'park' the wipers after you turn them off. So there is a bad contact or something inside the wiper assembly that is failing to turn off the power once they are parked.
Have you had the wiper arms off recently? Anyway, disabling the blue wire on the black plug should be the fix.

Thanks! I'll do that this afternoon! I haven't had the motor off. I bought a new moter, because I thought the motor was blowing a fuse, however, before I installed the new motor, I simply unhooked the old and plugged in the new. The fuse blew anyway! So I didn't bother with the new motor. The new voltage regulator seemed to fix the fuse blowing problem just fine. I'll cut the blue wire the see what I get. Thanks again!

Hopefully you can get your money back on the new motor that you don't need. Let me know what happens!

I had already returned the new motor and got my money back. However, yesterday afternoon I cut the solid blue wire, plugged the motor in, and just as soon as I turned the key the wipers went to work again. Maybe the old motor is shot. They work no matter where the wiper switch is positioned! Any other suggestions on how to stop them? Thanks for all the help so far.

Sorry that didn't do it. :banghead: My guess now is the switch is messed up. Would you be interested in putting a toggle switch in your car? Would be easier than changing the switch. I can go out (when it's daylight) and check which wire you'd need to put the switch on and then double check with the Haynes manual. I'm sure the blue wire was what I said it was for so it's the switch or else something else is messed up inside the wiper assembly. I'll get back to you.

Sure thing. I really appreciate all the help!

I went out and checked. With the ignition on and wiper switch off then only the blue wire should have any power. (So it can park the wipers). On the gray colored plug there is a RED wire. That is the one that makes the wipers go. You could splice a switch into that and put it in your car. It would already be fuse protected by the existing circuit. If you did this then it is possible that hooking the blue wire back up will park the wipers like it is supposed to.

Found out something else too. There is a relay! Probably an expensive one since it'll have the 'interval wiper' mechanism in it. This could very well be the problem. Do you know where the headlight relay is? There's about 5 relays all there together. The wiper relay is the biggest one by far. It's the forward-most relay of the group. Personally, I wouldn't bother to even price one of these! I went to the Ford dealer last week. I needed the little clip that keeps the window crank handle on. He said "if" they had one it would be between 6 and 10 dollars!!!! Excuse me but fuck them! :thefinger

WOW! That's a ton of GREAT info! Thanks so much for everything! I've got to get this thing working (it's my wife's car and she's been driving the truck until I get hers back like I like it!) Where are the relays? Are then in the box under the hood? If I pull the relay, can I use my meter to check it and see if it is OK? Thanks again!

WOW! That's a ton of GREAT info! Thanks so much for everything! I've got to get this thing working (it's my wife's car and she's been driving the truck until I get hers back like I like it!) Where are the relays? Are then in the box under the hood? If I pull the relay, can I use my meter to check it and see if it is OK? Thanks again!

The relays are located under the dash on the driver's side. If you are not a really big guy then you can slide the seat back and get your head down by the clutch pedal to see. Here's an easy way to find the group of relays: Turn your headlight switch from 'OFF' to 'PARK'. Back & forth. You will hear a clicking. That's the headlight relay. Locate it and you will see some other relays. The big relay towards the front is the wiper relay.
You let your wife drive your truck? WTF! :nono:

I know, I know makes me feel like the little lady of the house driving a purple Escort around town, but I'm the one who fried the electrical system, so I am the one to drive it until I fix it. All the kinks are out except for this one with the wipers, so hopefully I'll be back in the saddle again. I'll let you know what I find the next chance I have to work (probably tomorrow) things are busy with the holidays now. Thanks again!

Well, I've got the relay out. It's got two prongs that seems to be burned. I'm going to see about replacing it. Thanks for the heads up! Any thoughts on what could be causing that drain? The drain goes away whenever I unplug the BTN fuse. Thanks.

Well, I've got the relay out. It's got two prongs that seems to be burned. I'm going to see about replacing it. Thanks for the heads up! Any thoughts on what could be causing that drain? The drain goes away whenever I unplug the BTN fuse. Thanks.

Is your battery still going dead after changing the alternator?

Changed the voltage regulator. The alternator is fine, it was over-charging the battery.

So if you leave the fuse in then will the battery go dead over night?

It will, but I found the drain! I figured since the tester light went out when I pulled the BTN fuse, there must have been some problem in another part of the car. So I left BTN fuse in the box under the hood and began one by one to pull the fuses from the fuse box under the steering wheel. The tester light went out when I pulled the Room fuse. So I left the Room fuse out and started the car to see what worked and what did not. The dome light didn't work (but that is understandable since I had pulled the Room fuse), also the radio did not work. I then put the Room fuse back in the box and as soon as I unhooked the radio, the testor light went out! There is a series of prongs on the back of the radio, and two of them look as if they have been surged by some power. I think that will solve the problem of the drain! Now I've just got to decide what to do about the wipers. Thanks again for all of your help!

There should be a small amout of power going to the radio through the ROOM fuse. That's the memory for your presets and clock.

This was a good bit of voltage. It lit the tester bulb bright as could be. I'm going to let it sit overnight and check in the morning for power. Thanks for the heads-up!

GO BACK AND READ MY NO 4 POST.
You can not check amp draw with a test light.
You need a amp meter with battery hooked up.
MT

Ok, will do that on Monday morning. Leaving in just a minute for a holiday trip back home. Ya'll have a Merry Christmas! And thanks again for all the help and insight.

Well, went out this morning (car had been sitting for 2 days) and it started just fine! Was so thrilled with finding that drain in the radio. The car would not, before I removed the radio, keep a charge for more than 4 hours, so I'm pleased to have fixed the drain problem. Will be going to get a toggle switch and re-route the wipers this evening. Thanks again for all the help!

Good deal! You can get your pickup back. None too soon. The :grinyes: boys around town have been talking......