Fuse 23 keeps blowing - instrument lights, rear plate lights

[E30BeemerLad]

Drove the car last night and switched on the headlights and noted no instrument lights.

Just had a look at the fuses and fuse 23, 7.5amp was blown. Replaced it and as soon as I switch on the lights, the fuse blows again.

This also covers the rear number plate lights and the right hand rear tail light.

I detest electrics with a passion.

Some other info incase it is relevant......

I currently have a problem with my wipers which won't switch off as the washer pump is trying to run all the time, so as a temp bodge I have pulled the washer relay from the fuse box and will be changing this tomorrow night along with the wiper stalk.

Also, I had a comedy moment the other day when I realised the fag lighter works, but you have to hold it in. So being a complete chump, I thought I'd try to bend the tabs out a bit in the lighter socket with a screwdriver and got a quick crackle & spark

Don't know if either of those issues would have any bearing on the fuse 23 issue. None of the other fuses are blown.

Suggestions gentlemen?

[mrLEE30]

does your rear demister work? also connected to F 23

fuse 23 has no connection to wipers.

wipers haver their own control unit which could be the cause of your issues,

otherwise disconnect/cut the brown/black wire from wiper stalk, if this stops the pump then the issue is with the stalk. if not then the issue with the control unit.

[mrLEE30]

Edit and rethink!!!

bit of a stretch but the ONLY possible connection between the two issues is the parking lights are also on F23 and they are operated by the indicator switch, which is close to the wiper stalk, investigate the wiring under the steering cover cowl for bodging and prior experts playing with it.

but i woudl place money on the two issues being seperate problems!

[charlE30]

I'll be doing some investigation this weekend into this very problem, my fuse 23 has blown twice in the last two days... I'll report back if I find anything.

[daimlerman]

Suggest you look for a short in or around the numberplate light/rear light area.
Start by dis-connecting both numberplate lights,does the fuse pop then?
If not,re-connect them in turn to find the culprit.
Not too sure about rear light units on elderly pre-facelift stuff,the later cars have a rod tracking to link the bulbs to the main harness and this can randomly short as well,easy fix is a replacement bulb holder.

[12345kevin]

Have you fitted HID's ? I'm sure I had to up the fuse rating when I did mine ?

[daimlerman]

Have you fitted HID's ? I'm sure I had to up the fuse rating when I did mine ?

Headlights are on 14 and 15,my HID's are rated at 35w,so the 7.5amp fuse is OK.....

[E30BeemerLad]

Right, just had a mess about and got nowhere so far....

Disconnected the rear number plate lights, fuse blew.
Left the number plate lights disconnected and then disconnected the right rear cluster plug, fuse blew.

I have just noticed the right front sidelight is not working either.

The wiring under my column cover & under the dash is all virginal, no previous bodges etc.

On a separate note, the wipers.....

Changed the column stalk and also changed relay in the fuse box. wipers still come on as soon as position 1 on the ignition switched on. Also, as soon as I reconnet the power to the washer pump, that starts going.

What the hell is going on?

[beemerbird]

What the hell is going on?

It's your cars way of telling you it wants colour coded mirrors

[E30BeemerLad]

Come on Fi, you're a spark aren't you. Surely you can diagnose my car from the wealth of information I have provided

Why did this happen when Brianmooore goes on holiday

[beemerbird]

Well, there is obviously some kind of short circuit between the wash / wipe wiring and the starter motor wiring

Fear not, Brian has been spotted, bottle of Rose in hand, mis-spelling in a rather tipsy manner.

I'm sure he'll check in at some point and put your problem to bed for you

[E30BeemerLad]

Right a bit more info incase it helps.

I mentioned above that I noticed the driver front sidelight was not working. Well it does not when the ignition is off, but if i put the ignition to position1 then both front sidelights work

Oh and I've run out of 7.5A fuses

[beemerbird]

It actually sounds to me like something curious has gone on in the wiring to the right of the steering column, as headlight switch, wash / wipe switch and ignition are all in this area. I'd double check any cabling around here for snags, cuts etc.

[mrLEE30]

Oy Fi!!! i said that already!

[E30BeemerLad]

I can't see any damage to any wiring, it is all completely unmolested and wrapped in the sticky factory tape.

I've put the ignition on and let the wipers do their thing and then jiggled the wiring about and played with all connectors I can see and no difference.

The washer motor runs even when the wiper relay is removed, I have to disconnect the motor at the plug on the top to prevent it from running as soon as ignition is at position 1.

This all seems to have started after the drag strip. The road leading to the pits there is absolutely horrific and with the rock hard B6 dampers on the front the car got a proper shaking.

The only electrics I have meddled with on this car has been in the fuse box in order to connect a separate loom for the electric fan. Wonder if something in there has been disturbed?

I hate electrics!!

[mrLEE30]

Right a bit more info incase it helps.

I mentioned above that I noticed the driver front sidelight was not working. Well it does not when the ignition is off, but if i put the ignition to position1 then both front sidelights work

Oh and I've run out of 7.5A fuses

this is very strange as fuse 23 only protects one of the front sidlights the other belongs to fuse 22 and they should both come on when switched on. This is strange as the feed to fuse 22 and 23 should always be live irregardless of the ignition. this is the first thing to check. use a bulb and wire connecting one side to a ground point and the other to fuse 22 and 23 you can remove the fuse and touch the inner terminals- same can be done with a meter but bulb is cheaper and better as it has a real load.

come back once you have tried this

for your info fuse 23 is about the worst fuse to blow as it protects rear lights, licence plate lights and almost all lights inside the car and dash (except interior lights)

[daimlerman]

With you on electrics!
We both need a Fifi to sort 'em out....
I would be looking at all earths now,random faults like this are usually traced to a dodgy earth somewhere.
Mian dash earth is just above the glovebox,do all the column controls earth properly to this point?

[mrLEE30]

Oh and fix one problem first, ignore the wipers this can be fixed, concentrate on the blowing fuse as it implies a short to ground somewhere. it also renders the car unusable at night.

[mrLEE30]

a lack of earth as you describe malc will not blow the fuse, it will only stop the stuff working.

Lee, does the rear demister work? does the light come on when you switch on the rear demister?

[E30BeemerLad]

yeah the rear demister works dude.

I'll have to clobber together some sort of bulb & wire contraption. (i do have a multimeter but probably know more about the digestive system of a sloth than how to use it) Run out of useful daylight now and it's raining outside, so this will have to wait until tomorrow.

I think I may have a spare headlight switch somewhere and wonder if it's worth swapping that over? The headlights function fine (apart from the strange issue of driver sidelight only working with ignition switch at position 1)

[mrLEE30]

demister and head lights should work as seprate power system, but does the switch light come on when you turn on the demister switch? (you need fuse 23 working for this)

if you say only one sidelight does not come on or both - should just be one.

for time to change the switch yes i would say it is worth changing.

[E30BeemerLad]

All of this is with no fuse in 23

Rear demister only works on ignition switch position 2

With ignition off, if i pull out the headlight switch the first step, I only get the passenger front sidelight on, no driver sidelight. If i then put it to ignition switch position 1, I get both front sidelights work.

[E30BeemerLad]

With the wipers, if you remove the relay, do the wipers still come on in position 1?

Your washer pump should be live only in acc/run/start and is activated by GROUNDING through the switch to the steering column. Because you say yours starts up when you plug it in, you have a double fault here. Not only is it live at all times, but it is also grounded. If you disconnect the stalk switch, does it still come on? Check fuse 5, is it only live in acc/run/start or is it live at all times? If you remove fuse 5, does the pump stop?

Will deal with the lights etc once this is sorted.

OK - wipers

With the relay removed, no wipers regardless of ignition position.

Pump - this works regardless of whether wiper relay fitted or not. It only comes on with ignition on. When fuse 5 removed it does not work.

[beemerbird]

This all seems to have started after the drag strip. The road leading to the pits there is absolutely horrific and with the rock hard B6 dampers on the front the car got a proper shaking.

The only electrics I have meddled with on this car has been in the fuse box in order to connect a separate loom for the electric fan. Wonder if something in there has been disturbed?

I'm starting to wonder if any of these problems have been caused by a small piece of metal that has found itself into / under the fuse box which is causing a short across two / more circuits. . . .

[E30BeemerLad]

Good, now disconnect the wiper switch. Does the pump still come on in ign position?

Yes

[E30BeemerLad]

OK thanks Will, it's pitch black here now so will check on that in the morning.

What you are describing sounds quite possible as I recall when at the drag strip, when waiting to run the leccy fan kicked in on occasions and i recall hearing what sounded like something getting some attention from the fan blades (i thought maybe it was a tie wrap I'd not cut the excess from) but it could be the pump loom or other wiring in that area and the incredible G force from my supersonic 1/4 mile launches and passes may have caused something to move

On another note, I was just looking at the other thread on here where you and Mr Moore are helping another lad with a very similar problem and I note the stereo has been mentioned. I wired my stereo in a week or so ago, although the fit is not brilliant as I lost the original cage, so the head unit was slipping backwards on launching at the strip. So I naturally was pushing (ramming) it back in a bit. I'll check around those parts also.

My symptoms are similar to the other lad's in that after the car had a damn good shaking on the 3rd world access road to the pits the problems started. I obviously don't know when the instrument light issue first happened as it was 2 nights later before I drove the car in the dark and noticed no instrument lights.

The first time the washers and wipers messed up was under heavy braking after the finish line. Then it started playing up on the way home when I braked again and then they just stayed on. The motor on the pump was absolutely red hot, but it had been running dry for about 5 mins before I arrived home.

[mrLEE30]

all the instrument lights are run from fuse 23, so the fact that you played with the stereo leads me to think you have disturbed one of the dash light wires which is now shorting out blowing fuse 23.

and you lot know nothing about bad roads, Saudi Arabia has the worst highway in the World need to get some shots of their special patching work!

[DanThe]

You have roads? Our roads are now being turned into gravel tracks as the councils seem to think a layer of bitumen coated with chippings is a good way of maintaining them

[E30BeemerLad]

Investigations have commenced and revealed a chewed loom running across the front panel, courtesy of the electric fan

[cragles]

Fuse 23 kept going on my e30. The fault was a dodgy front sidelight bulb.

I suggest you try changing them