A while back I posted on my tail light fuse which kept blowing on me every few days. I found out what the problem was... the hard way.

Last Friday night I was driving down the Interboro Parkway at about 2am and stopped at the light on Pennsylvania Ave. As I was waiting for the light, I noticed a puff of smoke rising from the fuse box up to the dash area. I quickly turned off the car until the smoke stopped and then turned it back on and drove into a McDonalds parking lot away from traffic. It was dark and I was a few blocks away from home so I looked under the dash and saw there were no sparks flying or anything too crazy going on. The fuse was not blown and I again had no tail lights... how odd? I said fuggit and drove back home. Sunday I got to open up my dash and saw what happened... and what could've happened. There was a wire jumped from the alarm to the tail light wire next to the foot rest. Apparently the wire literally caught fire... it had no sheathing left... just bare wire and the rest of the wires around it were melted together. I was very lucky the car didnt literally catch on fire. The alarm was installed previous to me buying the car so I dont know who was the idiot who did this but it gave me a huge scare. I eliminated the wire and checked out the others and they were fine. The lights still didnt work so I changed the brake light switch and they finally worked like a charm.

Unfortunately after looking at the alarm system, I realized whoever installed it did a really crappy job. I'm really in the mood to get rid of it to be honest... other than cutting off power when set off, alarms around here do absolutely nothing other than noise. No one really cares if its going off and for an experienced car theif their a little too easy to get around.

I was actually thinking of wiring up a hidden switch to cut power off to the starter or fuel pump. oh well, I'm just glad my car is still in one piece.

 

damn..glad you saved it in time....my taillight fuse blew out about 4 times on me in the past 2 months... everything in my car is stock and there is no wires whatsoever... should i be worried now?

 

nah, its probably the brake light switch. Mine was stuck so when I pressed the brake pedal down it wouldnt light up the tail lights. Its only like a $10 part and you can take it out without tearing up the dash. I have an extra one... brand new in the box if you need it.

 

hey Ant96GLE
i don't mean to stray, but what kind suspension do u have?
springs and struts

 

This happened to me on my 240sx (before my Max). The ignition wire from the alarm was rubbing an a bar that the steering column sat on. This caused the ignition fuse to blow everytime I tried to turn the car over. I had my brother(a mechanic in Houston) drive out to Austin to find this out. I felt like an idiot. Anyway, at least it is an easy fix and your car is still alive.

 

B&G springs with KYB GR-2 struts that blew out like a week later

 

good thing u caught it in time, its always bad when pyro manicas get hold of cars (not u, the car alarm installer), cause we all know he was a pyro maniac looking to start fires inside of cars and then the fire would set off the alarm and then it would burn out and make a funny failing alarm sound when it died...


sorry...