god help me, electrical problems

[drew_5_2]

I have a 96 blazer. A fuse keeps blowing and when it does all of the gages go dead and the altinator stops charging the battery. I've replaced the fuse and it will work for a while but then it will blow again. I think it is a loose/pinched wire however I have no idea which wires to check.

[Gabe25]

Which fuse keeps blowing?

[drew_5_2]

Originally Posted by Gabe25

Which fuse keeps blowing?

number 4 fuse, 10 amp for the insturments

[Cailen]

Do you have any aftermarket electronics in the vehicle? Ie stereo, stereo amp, subwoofers, inverter, underglow neon, etc?

Any commonality in when this fuse blows? Ie whenever you're listening to your 2pac cd with the volume max?

Most auto parts stores will test your alternator for you for free.. might be worth your while to have it done.

[drew_5_2]

no after market products

[drew_5_2]

Originally Posted by Cailen

Do you have any aftermarket electronics in the vehicle? Ie stereo, stereo amp, subwoofers, inverter, underglow neon, etc?

Any commonality in when this fuse blows? Ie whenever you're listening to your 2pac cd with the volume max?

Most auto parts stores will test your alternator for you for free.. might be worth your while to have it done.

no after market products and at first we thought it was the altinator so we put a brand new one in

[Southern Comfort]

I have a shematic for a 1999, if it will help you, I can e-mail it to you. It's 3.25 Meg and takes me about 20-25 minutes to e-mail it. Just let me know if you want it.
Southern Comfort

[Shawn Herrity]

The same exact thing is happening to my '93 Blazer. You will also notice that when the fuse blows, your transimission will go into fail safe mode also. It gets stuck in 2nd gear and the only way to start with any power is to manually downshift on the column and then shift back upto drive when you have enough RPMs. If you pull your fuse box out, you will notice that two wires go into the back of the fuse that keeps blowing. You can seperate these two wires. One goes to your gauges and your altinator. The other controls the shifting of your truck. If you only hook the wire back-up that goes to the gauges & altinator you can at least drive your truck without the battery going dead. I've been driving like this for a while. You'll need to start out in 1st and then upshift to (D) once you have enough speed. I traced these wires back to the computer.... I thought. I went and bought a new computer today, installed it, and the same fuse keeps blowing.

Let me know what you find out, I would love to fix mine as well!

Thanks, Good Luck!

Shawn

[y2kblazer]

unless I'm missing something, if the fuse has 2 wires on the "out" side & you hook the dash wire up & they work, then wouldn't it mean the tranny is causin' the problem?

[Shawn Herrity]

The wires are the ones that go into your fuse box on the Drivers side floor. I'm not sure what is causing the fuse to blow. All I know is that it tells the Transmision to go into safe mode. It could be a number of things. Maybe a wire grounding out, maybe it is something on the transmission. I really don't think it's something with the actual transmission, because before the fuse blows the truck will drive for maybe five miles, perfectly. The transmission shifts great.... Until the fuse blows.

I'll be working on it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll figure it out!

[MT-2500]

Crap fuse 4 feeds half of the car.
The rear window defoger switch may be a prime suspect.
See if this pfd helps.
http://members.troublecodes.net/crunch/Fuse4.pdf
Good luck MT

[LS19962DRBLAZER4X4]

When you buy, finance or lease your GM Chevy Blazer the fuse box contains
replacements, make sure you take the replacements out before you go to
the dealership or garage. I found more theft in garages,mechanics who just take your belongings. Also check out OnStar.. equipment and DVD /CD Disk players they have a habit of blowing fuses.

[GMMerlin]

Originally Posted by LS19962DRBLAZER4X4

When you buy, finance or lease your GM Chevy Blazer the fuse box contains
replacements, make sure you take the replacements out before you go to
the dealership or garage. I found more theft in garages,mechanics who just take your belongings. Also check out OnStar.. equipment and DVD /CD Disk players they have a habit of blowing fuses.

Thats a pretty broad and bold statement...so are you impling that I am a theft because I work on vehicles..
No wait..you said mechanics...good thing, because a professional auto Technician doesn't disturb a customers belongings.

You need to look only at the items that are powered by that fuse.
A blown fuse indicates that there is a high current draw on that circuit. Possible causes could be a short to ground or a componant that is drawing a high current.

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by LS19962DRBLAZER4X4

When you buy, finance or lease your GM Chevy Blazer the fuse box contains
replacements, make sure you take the replacements out before you go to
the dealership or garage. I found more theft in garages,mechanics who just take your belongings. Also check out OnStar.. equipment and DVD /CD Disk players they have a habit of blowing fuses.

Good grief
Why would us mechanics/techs who give our time away to help people here and turn around and steal a spare fuse?
But it is like my mama always told me a skunk always smells his tail end first.
So if the shoe fits you can wear it.
MY

[Shawn Herrity]

Thanks for the post. I downloaded the pdf. It's freezing rain here now, so I will detatch the rear-defogger in the morning and then replace the fuse. I guess if I can make it to work without the fuse blowing, that was it. The rear-defogger stopped working last winter anyway. As a matter of fact the rear-wiper stopped working this summer as well... maybe it's all connected, I hope so.

Thanks Again!

Shawn