Ignition short

[juanesstalones]

My 97 geo Met won't start. Ignition keeps shorting blowing the fuse. Any ideas where to look for the short?

[Metro Mighty Mouse]

Which fuse?

[juanesstalones]

The ignition fuse under the dash board is the one that keeps blowing. It blows as soon as the ignition is turned to the on position (i.e. not actually in the starting postion).

[Metro Mighty Mouse]

I will check the manual and see what I can determine for circuits to test.

[Metro Mighty Mouse]

There aren't a whole lot of items on that circuit so not a lot to check. The most likely culprit it the ignition switch itself or a melted wire.

Remove the piece of the dash under the steering wheel to see if there are any melted wires coming out of the ignition switch.

If everything looks good then use a ohmmeter connected to ground and the socket in the fuse that gives a reading of 0 ohms (the short). you will be disconnecting items in the circuit and watching for the resistance to change to infinite, indicating the short is past where you unplugged the item.

Pull the fuel pump relay and see if the resistance changes to infinite. If so it's the wiring or the relay or the fuel pump itself.

Unplug the O2 sensor and check again. also inspect the wiring for the O2 sensor to see if it melted to the exaust or something along those lines.

The only other items connected to that circuit are the coil and, through the items in the circuit, the ECM.

If removing the items from the circuit makes no changes then the short is in the wiring before the point where you disconnected them or it is in the switch. Look for places where wiring has gotten hot and melted the insulator or places where it may have been rubbing on something and worn through, such as where it passes through the firewall.

Hope that helps!

Jon

[metroleum]

I have the same car and problem I found out that the fuse box inside engine compartment the FI fuse terminals had seperated alittle bit somehow so I squeezed the female terminals together to make a tighter fit with the fuse and now it works perfect,the gap in between the terminals must have been just enough to cause arcing and shorted the fuse out everytime I would turn the key to start.Try replacing the fuse box it is a very easy job to do these go bad often