Guest RXO510 Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 Gabe said that the fuse for the parking lights get very hot. And the headlight fuse gets pretty warm, but not as hot as the parking lights. The headlights have the relays (Pete's way) installed and work great. Isn't a somewhat warm headlight fuse the norm for the 240Z even with the relays installed? Would a bad ground for the parking lights make the fuse get hot, since it's not properly grounded? I turn the parking lights on and go through all the tail lights, side markers, and front signals. I can't see any wires to these components with any problems. None of the wires get hot or are frayed either. All the wires seems to be in very good condition. Only the 10G white wire to the fuse box for the parking light seems to get pretty warm. But the fuse is pretty HOT. Anybody have a problem with this part of the fuse box? Looked in the search, but didn't find too much. Please help us. Thanks J & G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 yeah i had that problem, the same fuses got very hot and i had to start changing them very often finally the lights for the running and console lights burned out and showed visable corrosion on the fusebox, i got rid of that box and fabbed and rewired the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 (Darned Macintosh - lost my entire post!) I'd start looking at the connectors in the circuits and the ground for them. Relays on the headlight circuit that's fused should not have enough current draw to get the fuse even warm. Same for the park/running light circuit. If all is well, these fuses should not get hot. The connectors should ALL be inspected and cleaned, and the ground on the inner right fender (beneath the wiring harness, in the first foot of harness from the firewall) should be cleaned and rebolted. Also make sure you have a good ground strap from the engine to the body. The other thing to look at is the underside of the fuse box. The little riveted connections of the clips to the copper strips that connect them corrodes (since one part is copper and the other brass, with a slight electrical nobility difference between them). The best way to fix this is remove the fuse box, push the fuse clips through the plastic case, and clean and solder the riveted area, making sure not to build up solder on the side of the connection that rests against the plastic case underneath. If there's too much buildup, the clip won't fully seat and will fail to lock into place in the plastic case. Just a little dab 'll do ya . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 quote: Originally posted by pparaska: I'd start looking at the connectors in the circuits and the ground for them...If all is well, these fuses should not get hot...Also make sure you have a good ground strap from the engine to the body. Your entire post was excellent, Pete! Very good points made regarding connections and corrosion. I want to reiterate on the ground strap: Sometimes electrical problems are caused by a bad ground, plain and simple. Just looking at the ground cable is not enough. A thorough inspection is in order. I once had a car that kept blowing batteries and snapping throttle cables--because the supid ground cable was bad! The battery acid had nearly dissolved the metal wire w/o melting the insulation; looked fine from the exterior, but who would have thought??? Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 Thanks for the replies. I have checked all the wiring again (unwrapped and rewrapped) from the tailights to the front park. lights and see no signs of shorts or frayed wires. I honestly was hoping to find some kind of short in the wiring. Checked all the sockets for all the light bulbs to make sure they weren't grounding out and nothing. Checked the bulbs for some sort of melt down on the bottom of them for heat, but nothing. I'm totally lost. How is the light switch on the 240Z's? Just thought about the switch. Do they short out or something? Any problems? I will check the search. I remembered one time that my friend had a bad ground and when cranking up the car the positive wire would get pretty hot. After a good ground, the problem went away. Can this be a problem? My ground seems to be good though. Just going to try and turn on my park. lights now and remove a bulb one by one to see if I can find that sucker making that fuse hot. Thanks for the help. Appreciate it! J & G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 Thanks for the info Davy. We bought new positive and negative batt. cables from our local auto store. It's funny because the fuse was not hot this morning when I checked. After an hour I went back to check the fuse out again and it got hot. Short in the switch, bad ground, or maybe I have to unwrap all the wiring again to check for shorts. Time to play with the Z again. You are right. Great posts from Pete and everybody. Thank you. J&G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted January 10, 2002 Share Posted January 10, 2002 James, I have an extra switch (will need it back eventually), but you are welcome to use it to trouble shoot your problems...change it out to see if it still gets hot. At least you could then rule out the switch. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted January 11, 2002 Share Posted January 11, 2002 Hey Tim. Thanks for the offer. I just might take you up on that, but I'm going to try checking the bulbs one by one first. Don't want to screw up your switch during my testing phase. I took apart the column to get to the switch and had the park. lights on. The switch or the wires to the switch didn't get hot. So I'm assuming the ground is bad or there is a short in the park. light wiring somewhere. Thanks again. J & G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted January 11, 2002 Share Posted January 11, 2002 Anybody setup a relay box for the parking lights? Saw some posts but no wiring diagram or anything. I'm sure it can be done. Please let us know. But first off, I know I need to find and fix my problem with the fuse getting hot right? Just putting in a relay really won't fix the hot fuse problem now would it? I saw the relay setup Pete did for his turn signals. Maybe Pete has also setup a relay for the parking lights or actually the sidemarkers? Thanks. J & G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted January 12, 2002 Share Posted January 12, 2002 I restrained myself from putting a relay on the parking light/running lights . I doubt it's needed as the switch should be able to handle the load IF EVERYTHING ESLE IS OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bang847 Posted January 12, 2002 Share Posted January 12, 2002 James, I've been down to Tim's house before.. dude it is far. but actually i got a extra swtich too. and i dont need it back.. sorry Tim im also more in your area. and thanks again for that fax a while back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted January 12, 2002 Share Posted January 12, 2002 Thanks Bang. Really appreciate the offer. But the switch isn't the problem. After lots of unwrapping and hours of testing each of the parking light bulbs and wiring, we finally found the dang short. It was the fuse box harness!!!!! We had checked everything, but the fuse box harness. Unwrapped the harness and saw the melted wiring. Melted together with the headlight wiring. Forgot all about that messed up fuse box. Hope the wiring problems can be fixed after putting in another fuse box. Hey Tim! I'm going to have to come by and buy that fuse box from you real soon! Thanks everybody. J & G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RXO510 Posted January 23, 2002 Share Posted January 23, 2002 Just an update. We added the relay to the parking light setup after seeing many fuse boxes with the same problem. Fuse holder for the parking lights look very worn and the plastic around it is melted. Also many of the fuse boxes we saw had the same look around the fuse for the hazard switch. Gabes's fuse box is a mess, but we did a complete overhaul with new wiring and soldering of all the connections. The fuse does NOT get hot at all anymore. Not sure if it because the fuse box was overhauled or if the relay is helping out now. Also the brake lights do not run through the hazard switch and the combo switch anymore. The signal lights work through the combo switch and hazard switch(stock setup). The brakes run entirely on their own now. Since we have a spare fuse and holder now after the headlight relay fix; (Paraska) we hooked up the brake switch power to that and rewired the taillights the way we wanted to. The turn signals and taillights work seperately now. Everything is fine and working. Just very happy with the electrical now. J & G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 23, 2002 Share Posted January 23, 2002 Good to hear!! I'm glad that you found the problem--it did take a ton of work, but at least you know the system by heart if anything else pops up! I know this wan not the case, but i thought I should mention it anyway: always check to make sure that the actual connection for the ground cable is good--it can lead to headaches if it's not. Take care! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaevee Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 (edited) This is SOO old and I apologize, but I would love to see a schematic of this, or a schematic from anyone who has rewired their brakes, tail, parking lights. My fuse melted the plastic on the cover so I have to solve this ASAP. I have a bunch of relays ready too. And I will of course keep searching, but if anyone wants to contribute I would love to hear about solutions. I have a 71 BTW. mostly stock. Edit-- I drew my own shematic isolating the circuits I was interested in and added a relay right under the steering wheel. Picked up a nice heavy duty ground there and plugged that into the 85 on the relay, Ran a 12GA wire to the battery and plugged that into the 87 on the relay, Fenagled the GL wire out of its 6 pack conector and plugged that into 86 on the relay, Took the wire GW that used to be connected to the GL and plugged that into 30 on the relay. Very easy. I believe MSA sells the relay kit for $40. Cost me $8? I had all the stuff necessary. These wires and their colors are only for 70-71 though I believe so don't get mad at me if this doenst work for you. I also ran much better ground to the tailights. After I added the grounds I tested voltage AT the tailights. I got approx.9.04 Volts. After I added the relay I got 10.7V at the tailights. Almsot 20% more voltage! Awesome. I don't really drive it at night much so i can't tell you if the dash lights got brighter or not. Maybe I'll check tonight. We added the relay to the parking light setup after seeing many fuse boxes with the same problem. Also the brake lights do not run through the hazard switch and the combo switch anymore. The signal lights work through the combo switch and hazard switch(stock setup). The brakes run entirely on their own now. The turn signals and taillights work seperately now. Everything is fine and working. Edited July 3, 2014 by Jaevee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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