GU 1998 Electrical issue

[trekster]

Hey guys,

Last night I installed UHF into my car, ran its own power lead from battery and grabbed an earth off a threaded bolt on the firewall, This morning driving it when I got home I noticed the clock would go out when I put my foot on the brake, now I have no clock.

No brake lights/dash lights/parker lights/interior/map lights


No blown fuses either? Can anyone help shed some light (pardon the pun) on this situation for me please.


Regards,
Eric.

[threedogs]

I'd be checking your earth wires

[Yendor]

There is a main 50 amp fuse that protects those circuits, it's in the fuse box under the bonnet.

I would start by checking this fuse and the main earth to the body from the negative of the battery.

[Roland the Wolf]

I feel you disturbed wiring in the process of installing the UHF radio receiver. I would definitely check fuse related to these circuits. Remember just looking at a fuse is not always sufficient. Remove the fuse and check with ohmmeter or use a 12V bulb with leads connected.
good luck .
R the Wolf

[trekster]

There is a main 50 amp fuse that protects those circuits, it's in the fuse box under the bonnet.

I would start by checking this fuse and the main earth to the body from the negative of the battery.

Spot on Yendor thank you! Main earth is fine, in fact I checked most of the earths around the bay and they are all intact, for some reason the 50amp blew. Only conclusion I have come to is: When I installed driving lights a few weeks back the positive feed that sits on the 10mm nut jumped on and off a couple times, Also did it again last night to me when I undid the nut to feed on another ring terminal, possibly weakened the fuse then drawing a few amps through it today while I was driving has knocked it out. I'm going to assume this is also the original fuse in there and there was some dust etc on the fuses and none of them looked new or like they had been replaced any time recently.

Will keep an eye on it but considering I haven't touch any of the main wiring and run my own independent power wiring this is the only conclusion I can come to.


Regards,
Eric.

[Yendor]

Hi Eric,

Glad you found it mate.

It normally takes a fairly large short to blow a fuse of that size. Your first post leads me to think you might have a problem with your stop light circuit "clock would go out when I put my foot on the brake".

I would double check the fuse for the stop lights (fuse 14 in the fuse box inside the vehicle, it should be a 10amp fuse). Remove the fuse and make sure no one has bypass it with some wire.

If this is ok then you will just have to keep an eye on it.

Cheers Rodney

[trekster]

Hi Eric,

Glad you found it mate.

It normally takes a fairly large short to blow a fuse of that size. Your first post leads me to think you might have a problem with your stop light circuit "clock would go out when I put my foot on the brake".

I would double check the fuse for the stop lights (fuse 14 in the fuse box inside the vehicle, it should be a 10amp fuse). Remove the fuse and make sure no one has bypass it with some wire.

If this is ok then you will just have to keep an eye on it.

Cheers Rodney

Rodney,

Will check that fuse tonight after work, That was the 1st instance that the clock had ever gone out on application of the brakes so it was very weird.

I will double check that though and get under the dash and check for any foreign wiring too.


Regards,
Eric.