VFRMAN
SILVER Star
I think I've read through all the similar posts and most were pretty old, and a combination of EFI fuse, and EFI relay, issues mixed together so I wanted to start a new one quick to narrow down why a friend of mine's 80 is blowing the EFI fuse.
It was 15 below when it died, so trouble shooting on the side of the road was miserable to say the least.
I've got it inside and warm now and just going through the typical spots for wire chafing, harnesses, fuses, etc, and this is where I noticed the O2 sensor laying on top of the exhaust pipe.
Brief recap first, it apparently just died on her going down the road and then wouldn't start. Cranks, but no start. She had it towed to an auto shop but they couldn't get to it so I agreed to go over and see if I could take a quick look and see if it was somehow something simple. Not being an electrical guru in the least, I looked and sure enough the 15amp fuse under the hood was blown. Put a new one in and it fired right up. Like I said by the time I got to it it had been sitting for awhile way below zero so I let it run for 10 or 15 minutes to warm up, having to keep my foot on the gas to feather it or it would die. Knowing that she said there was some recent exhaust work done I didn't think anything of it yet because it was so cold and I just wanted to move it into the shop. So....I got it warmed up, drove it about three miles to her house where I was going to just leave it, but I let it shut off, thinking I maybe had it fixed for the short term, but then it wouldn't start again. Sure enough, 15amp fuse blown again, replaced the fuse 3 or 4 times, finally started again, kept it running and was going to just drive to the shop non-stop to get it in, but I let it die at a stop sign and it wouldn't start again(replaced fuse a few more times, just "hoping"). Granted it was still fifteen below at this point and I'm freezing my ass off so we just towed it to the shop and got it inside where it's been sitting for 2 days until now. Quickly just replaced the fuse one more time but no start, and again fried the fuse so I got underneath the start looking and noticed the O2 sensor laying on top of the exhaust pipe. (And lso noted the booger welds that some exhaust shop did to try to fix an exhaust leak. Needless to say it sounds like a stock car and would guess is tied to the rough idle issue). We can tackle all of that later unless it's directly tied to the rest of this EFI issue. I just want to get it running consistently and then go to the next step with the exhaust. So....thats where I'm at currently and have to run in a little bit so I thought I'd throw this out there for the MUD Masses to peruse while I'm out being "productive".
The only other things I've done so far was swap the EFI relay out of my truck (prior to realizing that 15 amp fuse has blown) and there was no difference, and because it started with the new 15 amp fuse, I can assume that the EFI relay was not bad.
I pulled the passenger kick panel, per one thread that said check the wires going into the ECM where it may rub on a bracket, but everything looked fine there, at least at a quick glance.
Could I be correct to assume that is she's been driving this around with the O2 sensor and it's wires, laying on top of a cooking exhaust pipe, that the wires inside are probably melted, and hopefully the source of a short thats frying the efi fuse?
Or maybe I'm combining too many thoughts from reading post after post and I'm totally off-base.
On a more positive note, my kid got some fish this weekend through the ice.
It was 15 below when it died, so trouble shooting on the side of the road was miserable to say the least.
I've got it inside and warm now and just going through the typical spots for wire chafing, harnesses, fuses, etc, and this is where I noticed the O2 sensor laying on top of the exhaust pipe.
Brief recap first, it apparently just died on her going down the road and then wouldn't start. Cranks, but no start. She had it towed to an auto shop but they couldn't get to it so I agreed to go over and see if I could take a quick look and see if it was somehow something simple. Not being an electrical guru in the least, I looked and sure enough the 15amp fuse under the hood was blown. Put a new one in and it fired right up. Like I said by the time I got to it it had been sitting for awhile way below zero so I let it run for 10 or 15 minutes to warm up, having to keep my foot on the gas to feather it or it would die. Knowing that she said there was some recent exhaust work done I didn't think anything of it yet because it was so cold and I just wanted to move it into the shop. So....I got it warmed up, drove it about three miles to her house where I was going to just leave it, but I let it shut off, thinking I maybe had it fixed for the short term, but then it wouldn't start again. Sure enough, 15amp fuse blown again, replaced the fuse 3 or 4 times, finally started again, kept it running and was going to just drive to the shop non-stop to get it in, but I let it die at a stop sign and it wouldn't start again(replaced fuse a few more times, just "hoping"). Granted it was still fifteen below at this point and I'm freezing my ass off so we just towed it to the shop and got it inside where it's been sitting for 2 days until now. Quickly just replaced the fuse one more time but no start, and again fried the fuse so I got underneath the start looking and noticed the O2 sensor laying on top of the exhaust pipe. (And lso noted the booger welds that some exhaust shop did to try to fix an exhaust leak. Needless to say it sounds like a stock car and would guess is tied to the rough idle issue). We can tackle all of that later unless it's directly tied to the rest of this EFI issue. I just want to get it running consistently and then go to the next step with the exhaust. So....thats where I'm at currently and have to run in a little bit so I thought I'd throw this out there for the MUD Masses to peruse while I'm out being "productive".
The only other things I've done so far was swap the EFI relay out of my truck (prior to realizing that 15 amp fuse has blown) and there was no difference, and because it started with the new 15 amp fuse, I can assume that the EFI relay was not bad.
I pulled the passenger kick panel, per one thread that said check the wires going into the ECM where it may rub on a bracket, but everything looked fine there, at least at a quick glance.
Could I be correct to assume that is she's been driving this around with the O2 sensor and it's wires, laying on top of a cooking exhaust pipe, that the wires inside are probably melted, and hopefully the source of a short thats frying the efi fuse?
Or maybe I'm combining too many thoughts from reading post after post and I'm totally off-base.
On a more positive note, my kid got some fish this weekend through the ice.
