Help removing fuse panel

[Bobbywolf]

First some background,

Originally I lost 3 things for no aparrent reason, wipers, blower motor, and power windows. All three were used in the moring, but on my drive home, none of the 3 would work. Sure made it fun driving home in the first snowfall of the season, but that is another story for another time.

After doing some testing and playing around, I discoverd that if I add 12v to the wiper fuse, or the windows fuse in the fuse panel using a piece of wire, they work fine. As for the blower motor, if I disconnect the dark blue wire from underneath the passenger side dash, and connect 12v, my blower works, on all 5 settings (including off).

1st issue. My fuse cover is wrong about a couple fuse positions. The one they call blower, is actually the cigarette lighter. (I tested this with and without fuse). Where is the blower fuse located?

2nd issue. I obviously have a 12v line not feeding power, so I'd like to get inbehind my fusepanel. How do I remove it? I undid all connectors, and the 1nut, but there seems to be some hidden clip holding it.

Thanks for any help/insight.
Rob

[Bobbywolf]

Btt for help.

[mightymoose_22]

I've never had reason to remove my fuse block, but I would doubt there are any hidden clips. If you have removed the bolts that mount it, it is probably only held in place by the various wires connected to it. There likely is not much extra play in those wires so it likely won't pull out from the wall too far.
There should be a circuit breaker reset button on the top of the unit. Maybe that will help.
If all fuses are good, you can still to continuity checks without removing the fuse block. Locate wires for each system that are before and after the fuse. If you have continuity, no need to remove the panel. Get yourself a Haynes manual at the store. The wiring diagrams it provides should be sufficient to do continuity checks.

[Bobbywolf]

Well, I got things narrowed down. There is a circuit breaker that feeds all three items (windows,wipers,blower). The breaker itself is fine, I measured 0 ohms with a multimeter. However, when I wire 12V into the right terminal of the circuit breaker socket, all 3 items work again. The switched 12v feed is missing on the left side.

I REALLY wish it was explicity stated that this breaker was for all 3, not just heater.

Heres the problem. Haynes manual is useless at this point, because in every diagram they have this magic box which says "Hot at all times" or "Switched 12v". It doesn't state wire colors or where these wires run.

Does anyone here have a FSM that could scan a few pages for me? Any more suggestions would be great. It does look like I'll be pulling my fuse panel though, and find what specific wire is responsible for this breaker, and follow it back to its source.

[mightymoose_22]

My local library has some Mitchell manuals that have extremely detailed wiring diagrams. You might want to check and see what your local library has.

As far as the problem... it would seem if you are not getting power to that circuit switch, you simply need to trace the wires backwards until you find it again. Or do it the other way around. Start with your ignition in the run position and follow it forward until you lose power.

[Bobbywolf]

I finally found what it was!

After months of makeshift wiring sticking out of there to provide the 12V feed, I'm good to go.

I had what I thought was an unrelated problem in the meantime. My igniton switch bit the big one. I could turn the car over, but no dash lights, fuel pump ect. This had happened to me once before a couple years ago, so I diagnosed it correctly right away.

However, being cheap, I wired up a makeshift ignition switch. I fed power to the switched wires, and made up a pushbutton for to start the car. I used this for a few months before I finally got tired of inserting the various spade connectors into the ignition connector just to start my car. I bit the bullet and bought a brand new ignition switch. Car starts good as new.

Today, for some strange reason, I started thinking how my fuse panel is the only thing on the car that wont pass safety inspection. Just for kicks, I yanked out the wiring I had put in there, and put the breaker and fuses back. Everything worked!!! Everything likely worked when I had my ignition rigged up too, but I just didn't know it.

What I now know happened, was that only ONE of the switched 12V was not switching (the one going to that breaker), but the rest of my igniton was fine, so I thought nothing of it. In reality, this was the first sign that the igniton switch was on its way out.

I know it may seem trivial, but I am quite satisfied that I finally figured out what was going on, and it does indeed make sense now.

Rob D