Blown Fuse Help, Please!

[Vinny]

Hello all.  I have a little problem with a blown fuse that keeps occurring and it is driving me nuts!  I have a 66 DVC that I just got back on the road after having her apart for a frame replacement.  Everything has been working fine until recently.  I noticed a hiss from under the dash similar to a vacuum leak.  I traced it to be the neutral safety switch.  All the vacuum hoses are attached (I replaced them with brand new ones). The car starts fine.  Also the parking brake releases fine.  Here is the problem:  My 9 amp fuse for the back-up lights, tell-tale lights and gauges keeps blowing.  This weekend, I disconnected the oil gauge switch, the temp switch , the fuel gauge sending unit, the tail lights harness(which has the back-up lights) and the alt plug.  I replaced the fuse and when I turned on the ignition, it blew.  The gen light shines bright, the oil light does not come on, and the fuel gauge does not work.  My guess is that the neutral safety switch is bad.  Anybody experience this?  The reason I believe it is the Neutral safety switch is I looked at the schematic from my shop manual and it seems that the switch is part of this fuse.  If anybody can help with a suggestion, I surely appreciate it.

[George 23923]

When you say the gen light shines bright, is the gen still charging the battery even with the light glowing.? or is the battery going flat>

[Vinny]

I hooked up a seperate volt guage.  It reads 13.5 volts when idle.

[Jack Miller CLC# 24441]

Hello all.  I have a little problem with a blown fuse that keeps occurring and it is driving me nuts!  I have a 66 DVC that I just got back on the road after having her apart for a frame replacement.  Everything has been working fine until recently.  I noticed a hiss from under the dash similar to a vacuum leak.  I traced it to be the neutral safety switch.  All the vacuum hoses are attached (I replaced them with brand new ones). The car starts fine.  Also the parking brake releases fine.  Here is the problem:  My 9 amp fuse for the back-up lights, tell-tale lights and gauges keeps blowing.  This weekend, I disconnected the oil gauge switch, the temp switch , the fuel gauge sending unit, the tail lights harness(which has the back-up lights) and the alt plug.  I replaced the fuse and when I turned on the ignition, it blew.  The gen light shines bright, the oil light does not come on, and the fuel gauge does not work.  My guess is that the neutral safety switch is bad.  Anybody experience this?  The reason I believe it is the Neutral safety switch is I looked at the schematic from my shop manual and it seems that the switch is part of this fuse.  If anybody can help with a suggestion, I surely appreciate it.

You have to disconnect everything that is in that circuit. Then test the fuse box with a meter and see if there is current draw. If there is none, good. You then have to check one circuit at a time. Then connect one circuit at a time to the power and check again with a meter connected and check the current  draw. The one that is out of it's limit will have to be checked. You then check the rest of the lights and if they are within limit reading on your meter those are good. It is an isolation thing.

Good-Luck
Jack

[Dennis DiNorcia #19071]

I would invest in a short tester. This is a little meter that you connect the two prongs of the circuit with the fuse removed and it will give a clicking sound as long as the short exsists. Then I would remove every plug, one at a time, until the clicking stops. Then you have found the short. I bought this from J.C. Whitney and it was the best investment I made for tracing shorts. Good Luck and keep us posted.

[Vinny]

Thanks all for the help and suggestions.  Yesterday, I took the fuse out and cleaned the contacts, took the switch apart and cleaned it in and out.  I also sprayed a little WD-40.  I then cleaned all the pug contacts for the switch and all the tell-tale guages along withthe bak up lights.  I even went under the hood and cleaned the alt contats.  Put in a new fuse and no trouble.  The only thing now is that I found out at 43 yrs old, I no longer can twist and turn for long periods of time under a dash!

[Ted in Olympia WA]

The only thing now is that I found out at 43 yrs old, I no longer can twist and turn for long periods of time under a dash!

It gets worst.

Great job on fixing the problem.

TED