Problem with 15amp radio fuse

[Rism]

My 15amp radio fuse under the driver side dash blew. Every time I try to replace it with a new fuse it blows as soon as I start the car. Ive had my aftermarket cd player for over a year and this has never happened.

Anyone know whats causing the fuse to blow immediately?

thanks

 

[patmaz]

there must be a short circuit in your h-u,or the ground wire that is broken or loose,but probably your aftermarket h-u as a failure in it....i suggest you to revome the h-u,check all the wiring,with a test light,check the ground,make sure that the wires dosent touch any metallic parts....hope for you its nothing bad....

 

[Nutari]

or put in a 20 amp fuse.. thats what I did.. worked.

 

[chuyler1]

My guess is that the power wire behind the head unit has come loose and is shorting out against something metal in the car. Remove the head unit and inspect everything.

Disconnect it from the wiring harness, replace the fuse, and turn the car on. If the fuse doesn't blow then there is a problem with your head unit or the wiring harness.

 

[Poseur]

Allow me to HIGHLY un-recommend simply putting a higher amperage fuse in as a fix for this situation. You might want to check through your wiring and findout what's wrong rather than allow a short to get worse. Potential problems are reduced mileage, and increased alternator strain at the very least And what I'd be more worried about, possible sparks, and melting wires. A 15A fuse should be replaced wiht a 15A fuse, Hell in most cases a 10A should work fine in there without a problem, there's headroom designed into such systems.

 

[Nutari]

Allow me to HIGHLY un-recommend simply putting a higher amperage fuse in as a fix for this situation. You might want to check through your wiring and findout what's wrong rather than allow a short to get worse. Potential problems are reduced mileage, and increased alternator strain at the very least And what I'd be more worried about, possible sparks, and melting wires. A 15A fuse should be replaced wiht a 15A fuse, Hell in most cases a 10A should work fine in there without a problem, there's headroom designed into such systems.

aww crap. better go check out my wiring then...

 

[Poseur]

it's likely nothing that drastic, that's still a fairly low amperage, and relative low increase, but running 20a of current through wiring designed for 15 is not ideal. A fuse is deisgned to be the "weakest link" in a circuit. if you upgrade that, you never know where it's going to break next.

 

[P5errington]

Subbin...Mine does this as well, but only when I plug in the Cig lighter? Checked all wiring, harness is tight, no loose wires? Anyone think the XM add on may have something to do with it?

 

[chuyler1]

The cig lighter uses alot of power. Perhaps the lighter in combination with the XM "add-on" is drawing more than 15a. It's unlikely but still possible.

 

[Bakum]

I had the cig lighter problem as well, not from audio, but from a cell phone charger adapter. It would blow everytime I turned the car on. If i left the charger in the lighter socket while turning the car on or off it would blow. So i replaced the fuse and removed the charger, started the car, and re-plugged it back in, and it wouldn't blow out the fuse anymore. Give that a shot, it seemed to me like the initial start up was killing my fuses.