[barrishautomotive]

Hi folks.

I'm new to this forum. I'm trying to help fix my wife's cousin's 2001 Grand Vitara 2.5. He had taken it to a couple of shops who told him that because the issue was intermittent, they couldn't do anything with it. Finally, he brought it to me. I'm pretty experienced at diagnosing these types of issues, but I'm having trouble with this one. I've searched all over this and other forums, but can't seem to come up with anything relevant.

Here's the issue:

The vehicle starts, runs and drives fine, but once in a while the IG Meter fuse blows and the car dies. I have yet to be able to make it blow the fuse idling in the driveway, but when I take it out and drive it, it will usually blow the fuse within 15 minutes.

The first time it did it to me, I had no tools, so I just popped a new fuse in and the fuse instantly blew again. I tried 2 more times with the same result. I decided at this point to tow the car home and see if I could find the short, but when I got it home, the fault was gone and it ran fine with a new fuse.

Today I took it out and after about 15 minutes, it blew the fuse again. This time, I did a bunch of work on the side of the road. I started by unplugging all of the components that my wiring diagrams showed as being part of the circuit. I unplugged them all one at a time, and popped a new fuse in after unplugging each one. It blew the fuse every time. The components I tried this with were: The alternator, coil packs, HO2S relay, gauge cluster, keyless entry module, ECM, cruise control switch, HVAC mode switch, DRL module, and noise suppressor. According to my wiring diagrams, I think that's about it for components on the circuit. With each one, I unplugged the harness, installed a new fuse, and the fuse blew immediately, telling me that my short is not within that component. I eventually ran out of components to test, and decided to tow the car home and see if I could do more testing there.

When I got back home, I popped in a new fuse and now it's fine again. I've done a visual check and a wiggle test on all of the wiring I can find related to this circuit, but it won't blow the fuse again. I'm certain, however that the issue remains, and that if I again took it for a drive, it would act up again.

I'm totally lost here. Has anyone seen an issue like this before? Does anyone have any wiring diagrams that are better than the eautorepair.net/mitchell diagrams? These diagrams like to split each individual system into its own diagram and it doesn't really show how the systems may be interconnected, so I feel like I may be getting an incomplete picture of the circuit I'm trying to diagnose.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[murcod]

Could the wiring loom be worn through and shorting somewhere to the chassis?

 

[aquanaut20]

I have a couple of suggestions..

• Replace the fuse with a breaker,
• use a tone generator and a non invasive toner to trace the circuit..

.... Philip

 

[barrishautomotive]

I have a couple of suggestions..

• Replace the fuse with a breaker,
• use a tone generator and a non invasive toner to trace the circuit..

.... Philip

That's a good idea. That's the sort of suggestion I'm looking for. At this point, I can be fairly sure that the problem lies somewhere in the harness itself, obviously shorting to ground, but it's a bear to try to find the specific problem. I'll try your suggestion and see what I come up with. I'll post back with any developments.

Thanks!

 

[barrishautomotive]

So no luck so far. I've been able to rule out components in the system, which leaves really only one possibility. The harness itself must be damaged somewhere. I've wiggled and shaken every bit of accessible wiring, but I can't get to the problem. At this point, I think the only option would be to pull the dash and remove all other components necessary to gain access to every inch of the harness, and inspect the whole thing for damage. I'm certain that my issue will show itself at that point. Of course, this means an absolute mountain of labor, and I doubt my wife's cousin will want to (or be able to) pay me a reasonable amount for it, in which case I guess I'm off the hook. I'll do charity work to a point, but this is outrageous.

Anyway, unless you guys can think of anything that I missed, this thing may be done for. It's probably not even worth the labor to repair.

 

[aquanaut20]

Revert to post # 3..

.... Philip

 

[L84sky]

Are you blowing the 20-amp ignition fuse? If so, these are the possible culprits on a 2001 4WD 2.5L V6