ignition fuse keeps blowing.

[cwetherington]

I have a 97 Dodge stratus when when you tuen the key it doesnt make a sound. No clicking or anything. I checked the battery and power windows, and lights work. Radio will not come on. In Fuse box under hood. ignition fuse was blown. Any suggestions?

[gramsack025]

there is a short somewhere, im guessing. Follow the wires and try to find it.

[nezzer]

car was fine yesterday. today, turn the key blow a fuse. It is fuse #8 the Ignition Fuel Starter. Did you ever track down the alleged short that gramsack025 suspected was causing the problem?

[quest4me]

I had the same problem with my 99'. The ignition starter fuse going out was somehow related to my starter, my starter eventually died. After getting a new starter the fuse no longer blows.

[bubs180]

I just recently started having the same problem on my '96 Stratus (90,000 miles). Fuse #8 (Ignition Fuel Starter) blew one morning so I took my other car to work. Got home, replaced fuse, started fine. That was a month ago. Yesterday it happened again so I immediatley repleced the fuse again, and it blew as soon as I turned the key. So I spent all day tearing apart the dash and the kick area.
I have a remote starter I installed myself a year ago, I and was convinced that some tape must have come off, or a wire was worn bare. But I found nothing wrong, and now I'm stumped. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. quest4me, thank you for your response, I will have to look into my starter. Anyone else with this problem, have you found out what is/was wrong, or have you found a way to fix it?? Please email me or post a message on this board. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

-Matt
bubbles9680@hotmail.com

[c93213]

I've just been having the same problem, it's fuse #8 Ing. fuel starter fuse. I took it to the dealer and they had all the electronics checked. It was all fine. They also couldn't reproduce the same problem even thought I had blown about 20 fuses in the last 2-3 weeks. I found through this forum that it was a short in the selonoid. That and the starter are both one piece according to the dealer, and had to replaced both. The car is fine now.
I recommend just get the starter (with the selonoid) replaced and it will save you on the diagnosis.

[quest4me]

I have a 99' Stratus. I started having problems with the ignition fuse and the starter eventually ended up dying.

[drozman]

This same thing just happened to my 01 Stratus 2.7L sedan. My wife calls me from work and the car won't start. I drive down thinking she left the lights on but jumping won't work. Got it towed home (thank you AAA) and found the starter/fuel fuse blown. Replaced it and tried to start, blew again. Went to buy more fuses and a Haynes manual after reading the posts. Advance Auto Parts doesn't carry the starter. Crawled underneath the car trying to find the starter, no idea where it is. Got greasy and jiggled any wire I could grasp. Put in a new fuse, voila! the darn thing started! Drove it around for a while came back home, turned it off and ..... it started again. I'm not wandering too far from home until I can get it checked out by a mechanic!

[Ted Bundy]

My wife's 2001 is having the same problem. I have looked both inside and under the hood, but do not see any blown fuse. Can someone point me to the location of this fuse, I do not see any that is marked for the ignition. I do electronic repair for a living, so testing with an ohm meter or volt meter is a piece of cake, just do not see the right fuse. Anyone have a pix?

Thanks in advance

[drozman]

I think I may have found the solution. The same thing happened again back in December. The fuse is in the engine compartment fuse box, and it's a 20 amp fuse (yellow). I blew out a whole box of fuses before I finally loosened the bolts/nuts and lifted the fuse box out and noticed a bunch of stuff underneath, like some critter had made a home there. Cleaned it out and blew out the dbris with an air hose and reattached everyting and it has been working since.

[moumtainclumber]

I have the same problem. I keep buying fuses. There are too much
stuff on that particular 20 amp. Could it be a fuel pump problems or
ground wire? My mechanic said that starter runs as champ and it is ok..
But i still blowing fuses.. SUCKS.. HELP...

[smoke55057]

I would guess one of 2 things, either your starter is going out or your Ignition switch in the stearing column is faulty. if your starter motor starts to go out it will pull more amps and create more draw in the line and pop the 20amp fuse, if the ignition switch starts to go, it will short out and cause the fuse to pop. the good news is both can be easily removed by most people at home with common hand tools and both items can be checked to see if they are faulty at just about any Auto parts store.(starters can check ok but the ignition module attached to it can still be bad so if its over 8-10 yrs. old i'd replace it anyways) Here in Minnesota a remanufactured Starter runs around $200 with a $65 return on the old core (so $135). and an ignition switch runs about $33. Pick up a Chiltons or Hayes manual while your there and it will save you a ton of time! Hope this helps

[dodgekicks]

I am having this same problem, got under the car and started checking all the wiring going from the starter. There is an aluminum heat shield that sheilds heat from the cadillac converter. well one of the wires from the starter was rubbing against the heat shield and was causing the short. I didnt even repair the wire( I couldnt reach it) I just moved the heat shield up about a 1/4 inch to keep it away from the wire and havn't (knock on wood) had problems since.
I have also done a lot research online, seems that a lot of people have been saying that it could be the starter or the ing. switch too.
Hope this helps

[Millatyme34]

Your fuse box should be under your hood by your + - hookups, and there is a diagram on the cover of the fuse box to help you find the right fuse.

[cederstratus]

Cleaning the connector with the brown wire at the starter motor solenoid fixed my "blown fuse #8" problem.

My Stratus leaks oil and there was a large amound of dried oil inside the connector so I sprayed some degreasing solution in it and that fixed my problem.
To reduce the chance of this connector being contaminated with oil in the future, I packed the connector with dielectric grease after cleaning it.

This was before I replaced the starter motor/solenoid unit.
I did this first because the fuse did not blow when I removed this connector. I was surprised the fuse still blew with the new unit installed.

BTW, if you need to remove the starter motor, you may have a hard time finding the bottom mounting bolt for the starter motor. It is not at all visible. It's above the front engine mount. You'll have to feel around for it.

Hope this helps someone.