Sorry Donald, but I don't like the lamp idea - sounds like a recipe for an
electrical fire to me (although you could use the location of the fire to
spot the short!)
Why not try this: get yourself a multi-meter (if you don't have one
already). Remove the culprit fuse. Put the meter onto a setting that will
register 12V, and then measure the voltage between each side of the fuse
connection, and the -ve side of the battery (or the car body, or anything
else). One side should read 12V, and the other 0V. (Someone might be able
to tell you which side is which, but I can't remember.)
Now, switch the meter to the highest resistance setting it has, and measure
the resistance between the 0V side of the fuse connection and the -ve side
of the battery. You should see a fairly low number. Now start wiggling
wires around until that low number changes to an overload, and you've found
your culprit without any risk of fire. Good luck!
Dean
------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 15:53:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: Donald H Locker <dhl@chelseamsl.com>
Subject: Re: Blown Fuse
To track down the culprit, try substituting a lamp with clips on it
for the fuse, then work your way along the wires connected to that
fuse, until the light goes out. That's where the short is. And it is
a short to the chassis or ground somewhere.
If I were you, I'd start under the instrument panel, since that's
where you last touched something, but don't rule out anything yet.
HTH,
Donald.
|