[DeTomaso] Electrical nightmare scenario...
John Zeedick
Pantera351C at Hotmail.Com
Sat Dec 22 13:06:01 EST 2007
Everyone:
Are missing a very important point here?
Mike Drew working on his OWN CAR experienced a Drewsaster!!!!
Has the curse been broken?
John"makes me wanna go buy another Pantera" Z
On 12/21/07 6:02 PM, "MikeLDrew at aol.com" <MikeLDrew at aol.com> wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I spent the day before yesterday locked in mortal combat with my daily driver
> VW Scirocco. There is Pantera relevance to this story, so bear with me.
>
> After years of driving it everywhere, I decided to treat it to a tune-up
> (although arguably it probably didn't really 'need' it). New plugs, wires,
> cap
> and rotor, and it ran just as well as before. For no particular reason I
> decided to ops-test the electric radiator fan, so I let it sit and warm up in
> my
> driveway while I put the various tools away (itself an almost unheard-of
> condition).
>
> I was in the back of my garage merrily organizing my wrenches and sockets
> when I heard SPLOOOSH!!!, turned around and saw a geyser erupting from my
> radiator!
>
> Sure enough, the radiator fan never turned on. With visions of blown head
> gaskets in my head, I did a dance worthy of Baryshnikov through the piles of
> parts and debris on my garage floor to race to the Scirocco and shut it off.
>
> Okay, so now why didn't the fan work? It is actuated by two independant
> means--either by the thermoswitch in the radiator, or automatically anytime
> the
> interior heater/blower fan is turned on.
>
> Neither method would get any action from the fan. The first thing to do, of
> course, was to check the fuse. I opened the fusebox and all the fuses were
> visibly good.
>
> I then proceded to do some basic troubleshooting. Disconnecting the
> connector from the back of the fan, I rigged up some jumper wires and ran them
> straight to the battery--VAROOM! Okay, so the fan motor itself works. I
> then got
> out my voltmeter and tested the connector; with the fan switch on the dash
> turned on, there was 12.7 volts.
>
> Okay, so let me get this straight? I've got power at the plug, and the fan
> motor runs when you give it power, but when you plug the plug into the fan, it
> doesn't work?
>
> Electricity is my weak area and I quickly call for backup when I get in
> situations like this. I keep SOBill Taylor's phone number on speed dial for
> just
> this sort of occasion. I called him up and explained the scenario, then
> scanned the factory wiring diagrams and e-mailed them to him. Together we
> conjured up several likely scenarios; I would hang up, spend a few minutes
> testing/troubleshooting, eliminate that potential cause, and then call him
> back for
> another lead.
>
> Eventually every wire and connector had been tried and tested, and everything
> was checking out good. The last possible problem area was confined to the
> fusebox itself.
>
> A couple of hours (at least) had passed by this point, and then I physically
> removed the (Pantera-style) fuse from the fusebox, and this is what I found:
>
> http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/BadFuse.jpg
>
> My 'good' fuse was anything but! Sure, it was good where a fuse is supposed
> to go bad when it DOES go bad, but hidden from view under the prongs of the
> fusebox, the fuse was totally wasted!
>
> Simply popping another fuse into the holder instantly fixed the problem!
>
> During the course of my troubleshooting I cleaned all the various connectors
> in the system, so hopefully any excess resistance has been resolved. But the
> lesson learned here is that 'checking the fuse' doesn't mean merely looking
> at it sitting in the fusebox. It means removing it, inspecting it and then
> reinstalling it!
>
> BTW, some people have suggested replacing these old-fashioned fuses with
> glass fuses. But I have had poor luck with glass fuses, because when a
> circuit
> goes bad (but not terminally bad), they would heat up and melt internally,
> completely out of view. Instead of blowing, they would simply stop working,
> but
> even when looking at it in your hands, there would be no visible indication of
> failure. At least with these ceramic fuses, when they go bad, it's visible
> evident.
>
> That is, assuming you take the time to actually LOOK at the thing!
>
> Sheesh.....
>
> Mike
>
>
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