Hey everybody,

I have an AP1 and recently the fuse has been blowing. I've gone through at least 10!

It's the fuse that controls the lights for the dash/console/rear taillights when the lights are switched on.

I know the fuse goes out when I'm driving at night with the lights on, as the rpm cluster dims and all the buttons (A/C & all the knobs) seem as if the running lights are switched off.

Anybody have the same problem or know of a solution?

This happened at random times while I'm driving, but now it usually blows the fuse as soon as the engine starts...

Any help is appreciated.

 

Sounds like a loose connection or wire damage that's causing a short. Now that it happens consistently it'll be easier to troubleshoot. Do you have a multimeter?

General electrical troubleshooting applies - Try disconnecting as many connectors to things that fuse powers as you can from it and then turning on the car. If the fuse still blows, then it's the wiring or one of the components you couldn't disconnect. If it doesn't blow, then it's probably one of those disconnected components. Slowly plug them in one by one. When it blows again, you found your culprit. If you plug everything in and it still doesn't blow, then you're still in an intermittent condition and maybe try it again later.

I'm not familiar with that circuit and what's on it that's easy to disconnect so I'm not sure exactly how feasible this is, but at the very least even if you can just do it with the taillights and the headlights that at least takes those factors out out of the equation. Check the service manual to see what all is on it and where the connectors are. Not sure if you need the electrical troubleshooting manual or not.

 

What ever you do, don't increase the fuse amount when you replace it. Is it a 10 amp fuse that keeps blowing?

 

Hey Integr0064 thanks for the info. It's odd because when it wasn't raining the fuse was fine, and then this past weekend when it was raining, it blew again...

Wisdom - Yes it is a 10 amp fuse.

 

Did you ever figure out what it was? i’m having the same problem with my 02 ap1. The fuse blows after a while of having it in there. same fuse and same lights go out for me after a while of driving.