`92 tracker 2dr, 4wd auto tranny 8-valve driving down road trac just dies-took out left taillight no power to pink-black wire when turn key to on postition-checked fuses 15 amp fuse ig-coil meter fuse blown-put in new fuse and drove another 40 miles just fine-died again! It is really cold here (below zero) Any suggestions? The second fuse blew.Bare wire?
Welcome to the world of the ignition-coil fuse. This fuse runs the fuel pump relay (so no power to pump when fuse is blown), alternator, ignition coil, instrument panel gauges, indicators, main relay, noise suppressor, o2 heater, warning alarm controller, stoplamp switch on auto tranny, and daytime running lights, if you have them. And what's even worse (is that possible?) your short seems to be intermittent, as the car will run for a bit before blowing the fuse. If you are extremely lucky, this may be because the o2 wiring is shorting out on the hood of the car, so look there first. Otherwise, I regret to advise that you are in for an adventure, checking all the above circuits. Check your harness to these circuits carefully - especially the underneath side of them. After years of possible rubbing up against metal parts, you may have a break in insulation somewhere that shorts out with the vibration of the car. Good luck.
I had my car towed to my mechanic last friday nite. Now Monday morning he just called me and says he doesn`t want to mess with it. I am going to get it home put in garage and look for the short from front to back like bex said in last post.
Hmph. Not a very helpful mechanic!!
Below is the schematic for the ignition coil fuse. Here is my anecdotal histoire about one of my adventures with this fuse:
The fuse blew one day. I replaced it, and the car ran for 2 weeks, then the fuse blew again. I checked the easy stuff (o2 wire shorting out on hood, in particular) and couldn't find anything. I also checked the underside of most of the harness that goes to the components in the diagram as below. Nothing. Everything looked great. Replaced the fuse, and the car ran for 4 days. Replaced again, and it blew at key on. Replaced it again, and started manhandling the harness - couldn't get it to blow. Of course, by this time, I realized this was not really reliable. And as it was intermittent, it was difficult to check to see what was blowing. So, a real serious wire hunt....My problem was a really small piece of wire insulation was missing from a wire going to the alternator - the wire was not touching any metal components to short it out, but it was close enough to a metal bracket so that, if I went through a puddle, a drop of water could conduct the electricity to the metal bracket and short it out. It took hours to find. Hopefully, this is not in your future!! Look at the harness going to each of the components in the diagram below - check anything that is close to any metal, particularly the underside of the wires. And good luck - it is there, somewhere, and I hope you find it quickly.
O2 heater shorted, TOPS list, disconnect it an test. (melted to exhaust, no ! your kidding, right, i say rhetorically)
short at stop lamp path seen below?
alternator back plug shorted? inside alt? unplug it and see if fuse holds
if you have an amp clamp meter, you can find it directly.
cheers.
PS
see A/T TCC . shorted on same wire here. bottom right.
note backwards logic, foot off brake plus TCC shorted, results in blow IGcoil. (unplug TCC relay and drive) (this is the TCC cancel logic) http://www.fixkick.com/ECU/8v-tbi-schematic91to95.jpg
there are lots of ways.
one is a DMM with USB logger, and you can use an amp clamp with said meter
you drive and log. AMPS.
clamped to any wire you want.
other than that, you can (pull and play)
PULL 02 and drive, (oops i look down there, and its all melted. ouch)
or pull TCC relay, you dont need it, pull it and drive all day.
ALT plug (senses and boot wires) boot wakes up the charge circuits.
how ever the ALT is not going to run unplugped. (most wont) its the sense wire and bootstrap feed on many brands.
you can drive say 10 mins. ok. (no head lamps please)
i dont think it's the Ign coil shorted, but if does short, they usually stay shorted.
but if intermittent , cant drive unplugged.
my , 02 short, is tops.
blown more IGcoil fuses, than carter has liver pills....
I have a similar problem... the FI fuse blows, but only the instant the ignition is turned off (and not every time, either). I've been pulling the fuse as soon as I turn off the ignition, and was just greeted with burnt fingers from the hot melting plastic on the fuse
This has just started in the past 2 weeks, and I have gone through about 3 fuses, whilst driving the tracker hither and yon. So far it has only blown the fuse when parked in my driveway maybe an emf problem nearby
the fuses have an odd way of failing... on one side only, the plastic is melted and bubbled; the fuse breaks next to the blade on the bubbly side, not in the middle like most other blown fuses I've experienced.
am using 'littlefuse' brand fuses.
car is as in my sig: 91 tracker 4x4 auto
update: no codes, have been using rhinoman's software to check things out and all runs nicely (all sensors seem to report believable values)
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1991 Geo Tracker, 4x4, 2 door tin top, CAMI, A/C, 3-spd Hydramatic, RWAL brakes
Last edited by road_tripper; 01-29-2013 at 06:51 PM.
Reason: because I wanted to edit
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tracker blown fuses
maybe an emf problem nearby 
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