Interior light fuse keeps popping

[NWASSEi]

Don't know why. Any clue? What else is on that circuit?

Don

[Archon]

All the interior lighting is supplied by that fuse, through the "int lamp relay" in the rear fuse block. Has any after-market devices been added that may have been added to that circuit? Otherwise, you may have a long process of using an ohm meter to track down a short in the wiring. The interior lighting is on a blu/whi wire.

Edit - Any more details you can provide can help us give better answers. Like, does it blow immediately, only when a door is opened, when lights on, etc.

[NWASSEi]

Here is the situation. When I got the car on Friday, the interior lights didn't work. Put a fuse in it, worked great. Yesterday morning used a plug in the cig lighter compressor to air up the tire, compressor stopped, lights went out. I put replaced all the bulbs with red ones (to match the dash) then a new fuse in, pop. So either the cig lighter is shorted out, or it doesn't like the red bulbs. They are 12v bulbs. Got tired of messing with it tonight. Tomorrow I will pull all the bulbs and see if it is still blowing fuses. I was just asking to see if there was anything else on that circuit other than the cig lighter.

Don

[Archon]

The cigarette lighter fuses are in the under-hood fuse block, and are on their own circuit. That should not have anything to do with the interior lighting.

Voltage is not the only concern when replacing bulbs. The current rating is also important. If the bulbs draw more than the original bulbs, that can overload the circuit and blow the fuse.

[NWASSEi]

The cigarette lighter fuses are in the under-hood fuse block, and are on their own circuit. That should not have anything to do with the interior lighting.

Voltage is not the only concern when replacing bulbs. The current rating is also important. If the bulbs draw more than the original bulbs, that can overload the circuit and blow the fuse.

Yeah, I know. I wish there was a *dang* book that gave me all that stuff. I guess I am just going to have to break down and buy a FSM for it.

Don

[Archon]

From what I've read at another forum, the problem was the different light bulbs...is that correct?

[NWASSEi]

From what I've read at another forum, the problem was the different light bulbs...is that correct?

Well, Yes and no. The other light bulbs did pop the fuse. I put the stockers back in it and they worked great.............. for about 24 hours. The fuse if blown again so it looks like I have to start chasing trons to figure where the intermittent ground is. GRRRRRRRRRRRR intermittent faults are the worst.


Don

[Archon]

Yes, the certainly can be. Is there a particular time when it seems to happen? It sounds as if you recently purchased the vehicle, so you may not know much of its history. A good place to start may be to search for anything that looks like aftermarket wiring. With the cigarette lighter blowing the lighting fuse, it sounds like something got cross-wired somewhere.

[NWASSEi]

Yes, the certainly can be. Is there a particular time when it seems to happen? It sounds as if you recently purchased the vehicle, so you may not know much of its history. A good place to start may be to search for anything that looks like aftermarket wiring. With the cigarette lighter blowing the lighting fuse, it sounds like something got cross-wired somewhere.

The cig lighter popped the fuse because of the air compressor. I believe the lights were pure coincidence. The car is a one owner, 88k, clean carfax car. Only evidence of anything done to the car is the K&N.

Don

[Archon]

Did you buy from a dealer, or is there a way to contact the previous owner about the problem? Is there anything that seems to cause it to blow? Opening rear doors, but ok when opening the front? Do you have a meter that can read higher currents? If so, remove the fuse, and put the leads of the meter in its place. Then, try various things (opening a door, moving visor, etc.) and note the current draw that each causes.

[NWASSEi]

Bought it from a used car dealer. No warranty on electronics. Yes I have a meter to do that. Someone here said check the visors. I am going to check those, then go with the meter. Hopefully this will be an easy fix, we'll see. I will let you guys know what it is when I find it.

Don

[boostedpb03]

I have an 03 SSEi and owned it for 3 years now, and had the same problem as this post , the funny thing is when i first got it it kept blowing the fuse and i took it in under warranty and they couldn't find any thing wrong, I get it back and POP, it does it again , I tryd and tryd new fuses with them popping instantly and I left it as is for several months, and then one day i decided to put one in for *shoot* and giggles and Voila!! it worked fine!

For 6 months it worked perfectly and one day, I got in and they didn't work *sighs* so I tryd to replace them again and *POP* instantly blew them, so I once again left it as is for several months only to decide once again to see if they will blow and wouldnt ya know it they work fine! and so far havent blown again.

I know if it does it again I will need to trace the wiring, but Im afraid it will no longer ground out and be fine just to make me hit my head against a wall!! hopefully if it does ground out again it will stay grounded so i can trace the problem back to the source but so far all is good, just hope it stays that way, but it won't because it happened before and it will happen again!

[ddalder]

There have been numerous intermittent faults linked to the sun visors. If it happens fairly regularly you can disconnect the headliner harness and monitor the situation a while for any recurrance. If it doesn't happen again it's a good indication that it is somewhere in the headliner wiring (most likely a sun visor from past history).

To disconnect the headliner harness is quite easy. Remove the trim from the driver side 'C' pillar. Unplug the connector at the base of the c-pillar behind this panel. You can still drive the car this way but you won't have map or reading lights and if you have an auto-dimming mirror, HomeLink and/or OnStar, those won't work either. This won't damage anything though so not to worry. IIRC, the sunroof should still work.

If you disconnect the headliner harness and it does keep blowing the fuse it means the problem is elsewhere and further troubleshooting will be required. The purpose of what I'm suggesting is to try and quickly confirm or eliminate a very common cause of this problem.

If the problem is in the headliner harness wiring you can unplug each sun visor, one at a time, to identify where the fault is. The good thing about this is that you don't need to drop the headliner (at least at this point). I would suggest this as a start and post what you find. There is more to check from here if needed.

[ptrfair]

I'm going to second the sunvisor potential. Here's the deal.... my car last summer started with popping fuses. I had the ENTIRE headliner apart and it was useless.
I actually ended up replacing the RIM module and that solved the problem for about a year. Last week, my girlfriend pulled down her sunvisor and all my lights died again. So, i unplugged the passenger visor and im back in business.

Who cares about the passenger anyway. lol

[card54]

Based on what I've read here, I disconnected the driver side visor wiring. No more popping fuses!

[rstein65]

Based on what I've read here, I disconnected the driver side visor wiring. No more popping fuses!

Where do I disconnect the wiring for the visors? I am having the same issue with interior lights. Fuse blows instantly.

[ddalder]

You need to drop the corner of the headliner so you can get your hands into the roof to unplug the connector. It is located not too far from the pivot point where the visor screws into the roof. The connector is usually hot glued to the headliner backing though which is why you'll need to reach up there (it can be awkward). Don't just pull the wires or you'll likely yank them out of the connector and you may still have the same problem should the bare ends rub on the sheet metal. It can also be a bit of a pain because you need to release a tab on the side go get both halves apart.