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[Blackie_No1]

My omega elite f/l is starting to do my head!!

So the auto box crapped itself first!  Then, possibly coincidentally, it has developed electrical gremlins, one day whilst sitting listening to the radio, I tried to start the car and I lost the radio and the instrument panel.  After about ten minutes of panicking and pulling fuses in and out, I decided to try and start it again and everything was working.

Driving home from work last night, listening to the radio, heated rear window on, ecc on auto and obviously the headlights on, everything went dark, no lights, no radio, no instrument panel.  After blindly fumbling in the dark i discovered one of the BIG fuses had popped, the main electrical system fuse (80amp) had pretty much melted itself in oblivion!!



Anyone have any ideas or suffered from a similar fate?

[freecall666]

looks like a bad short some were, will need a meter to try and find that have you had dash out or anthing out electrical, or could be a short in radio?

[Blackie_No1]

No mate, the only two bits of work done to the car is a second hand auto box fitted(with the original cars selector switch) and a pair of new exhaust centre sections.

Possibly could be the head unit as both times the radio/instrument panel went I had a cassette in the cassette player. The first time it happened I was trying to get the CD cartridge to stay in the HU.

If I get a multimeter what should I be looking for?

[Andy H]

There really isn't much space for the wiring behind the head unit. I wonder if a trapped wire has made contact with some metalwork?

[Blackie_No1]

Well now that you say that, one of the little Allen screws that go into the front of the headunit, which is a ccr2006, is missing, so I assume it has been out. The ecc servo on the drivers side isn't working so I assume someone maybe took the HU out to get at the heater?

[freecall666]

would check wiring as if its done that to fuse, may have melted a wire or 2 some were else, did you have any burning smells?in cab....

[Blackie_No1]

Strangely no, I thought I woul have had a burning smell in the cab as well

[freecall666]

do you know what the drain on the battery is with out any thing on, then check one by one with radio etc on see if you can find a linc may cost a few fuses.. then when you find the bad unit etc check it wires to fuse etc, would find it out dont want a fire in cab.

[Blackie_No1]

Cheers for that, a mate is gonna throw a multimeter round to me, though when I get home from work I will remove the head unit just to have a peek and see if there is anything obvious

[Martian]

That looks more like heat damage to me, and that generally occurs over a period of time.

First thing I'd check is that the spade connectors in the fusebox haven't loosened up, because even the slightest hint of a loose connection at those kind of current levels will get the heat building up quite quickly.

[Dave DND]

Unlikely to be head unit related - they are often protected by 15 / 20A circuits and those fuses would have blown long before an 80A one did.

80A fuse is a MAJOR fault, not just a faulty head unit, module etc, this would be more like a trapped or exposed wire, and has not happened instantly, it has happened over a period of time due to the melting etc.

A fault should blow a fuse instantly, but a loose connector could also draw lots of amps, heating the fuse up like a heating element over a period of time until it melts rather than blows.

Good luck with the search.

 

[Blackie_No1]

That just makes matters worse! Lol! I've put a new fuse in it, and based on what your saying it should have popped? To date, it isn't even showing signs of discolouration?

This fuse seems to be tied into the head unit, instrument panel, heater controls, hazard lights(as they didn't even work) interior lights and headlights, as these all failed when the fuse melted into oblivion!

[Dave DND]

That just makes matters worse! Lol! I've put a new fuse in it, and based on what your saying it should have popped? To date, it isn't even showing signs of discolouration?

This fuse seems to be tied into the head unit, instrument panel, heater controls, hazard lights(as they didn't even work) interior lights and headlights, as these all failed when the fuse melted into oblivion!

Then I would be measuring the current beore doing anything else, as next time could be a fire

 

[Blackie_No1]

Where should I be measuring the current? At the fuse?

[Dave DND]

That would be a good place to start from