We bought this car from the original owners.When I finally got the car home everything electricial worked except the gas guage. I went out one day to find the 20 amp fuse that is for the radio,antenna,cigarette lighter, and the ride control was blown. Everytime I tery to put another fuse back in it blows as soon as it touches both sides. Also,the car now sits high in the back ,it sat normally before the fuse problem. I thought it has to be something that is always hot,the lighters,etc. I don't think it is the radio or antenna as the power isn't on to them until the key is on.Also, the back end of the car sits a lot higher than it did when it first arrived here. The auto ride level is on that fues also. I don't know why it would be higher when the fuse is blown.

 

You've got a dead short somewhere.

You need to go through your wiring and find it. There are no shortcuts.

First place I'd look is the lighter and the wiring leading to it.

- Eric

 

You can disconnect everything on the circuit, try another fuse and see if it blows with everything disconnected to isolate wiring issues. Then plug things in one by one until the fuse blows, that will be your culprit.

 

Huh?
Does this thing have auto level control? If it does, I wonder if it is powered from that fuse, too. Something to look into...

 

G'Morning, Rob! Haven't had your coffee yet ?

Happy Independence Day!



- Eric

 

x2. This is the most pragmatic approach. Also check the lighter receptacle to make sure nothing fell in. Yes, it's happened to me before. No, don't ask me how. A penny fell in and kept blowing that circuit on 1986 Trans Am.

 

Grasping at straws here, I had a similar problem years ago.

My door jamb switches were shorting out. Disconnect them and see what happens.

 

I had this issue on my '85 Cutlass Ciera. The cigarette lighter had a bent prong (from a penny getting stuck in there (my aunt used the ashtray as a coin holder since she doesn't smoke). I disconnected the lighter and the issue has been gone for 8 years.

 

First of all,thanks for all the help,its been in thehigh 90s and with lots of humidity and me being on oxygen 24/7 I haven't even been outside. I do have a question, If the fuse is blown why is the back end of the car up so high? Also,the owner's manuel and the electrical shop manuel shoe the ride control on more than one fuse. Would one fuse have the compressor one it,then another have the controls etc? I remember that the radio was working until I the memory seat control(which isn't on that fuse). That was the last thing I had played with before the fuse problem. Bill

 

We just had the same problem on our 1986 Cutlass Ciera (not the same car, I know...) The problem turned out to be the wire to the trunk light. The trunk hinge mechanism makes a "scissors" action as the trunk is closed. Rather than routing the wire up the side of the hinge, GM routed it RIGHT THROUGH the scissors. It took 27 years of opening and closing the trunk, but finally cut through the insulation and caused the short.

 

I had this same problem years ago on my daily driver '82 Toronado. It turned out to be a dead short to ground on the passenger side visor with a lighted vanity mirror. It was too long ago for me to remember which circuit it was on, but check the vanity mirror for a split & bared wire where it bends & goes through the chrome pivot assembly. If that's not it, you will have to start disconnecting each item on that circuit one at a time & see when the short stops popping the fuse. That's what I did, and the last thing I checked was the vanity mirror, and that was it.
Jerry

 

This thread is a little stale, but when I was working on car stereos and alarms for a living I found a lot of those fuses blown. The most common problem was the cigarette lighter itself. GM lighters are screwed together and if the heating element begins to unscrew it will cause a short inside the lighter socket. Check there first as it is the easiest and simplest fix.