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10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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Frank63
New User
Jan 16, 2023, 5:18 PM
Post #1 of 8
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10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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Hello all. My name is Frank and this is my first post.
Car: 2006 Kia Sorento
Issue: "Meter" fuse keeps blowing and car won't start.
Symptoms: Wife was driving and cabin began to fill with smoke, so she pulled over, shut it off and called me. No indication as to what led up to this as wife is not mechanic savvy.
What I found: Got to car and it started, but smoke coming from dash. Strong electric smell. Shut car off and checked engine compartment fuses. ABS 40 amp fuse burnt. None in town ( I live in a very small town). I tried starting car and no joy. So towed car home.
Located interior fuse panel and found 15 amp "Trailer" fuse melted. We have no trailer accessories on car so that seemed odd. Next to that fuse is the 10 amp "Meter" fuse and it was blown. Replaced and car started. Drove around house and fuse blew again. No start again. This affects the gauges as well.
I read the 2 other posts I found in search, but no useable info.
Any thoughts?
TIA
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Jan 16, 2023, 5:44 PM
Post #2 of 8
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Re: 10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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It's pretty obvious that a short circuit has caused wires or components to melt. You're going to have to get up under that dash and see what melted and then find out why.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Sidom
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Jan 19, 2023, 1:50 PM
Post #3 of 8
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Re: 10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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A lot of trucks and SUVs are "wired"for trailer brakes even if you aren't using them. It makes it very easy when you go to put on the trailer brake controller, you basically just plug it into a wiring harness that is already there. So that would be one clue to where the short is.
That being said finding shorts is on an intermediate level and up. The fact that you said smoke started to fill the cabin is a bit scary. Fuses and links should have popped before it got to the "smoke stage". It sounds like there is a hard dead short somewhere.
I'm all for helping DIYers out, but just based off of what's happening you really might want to take this in to a competent electrical shop before the short gets so bad there's no car left.
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Frank63
New User
Jan 19, 2023, 2:52 PM
Post #4 of 8
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Re: 10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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Hi Sidom. Thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with the idea that the fuse should have burnt before melting, but here I am 😮😁. I'm planning to pull the entire fuse block, open it up and see if there is any damage inside it. Was also planning to inspect wiring around the trailer harness you mentioned.
Just for the record, I am a mechanic with reasonable electric skills/tools. Since I've seen the "meter fuse" issue mentioned several times, I was hoping there might be a common known problem.
Looks like I'm chasing wire
Thanks again
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Jan 19, 2023, 3:05 PM
Post #5 of 8
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Re: 10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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You had smoke under the dash. That means something is melted and you need to find out what that is before worrying about how it happened.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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Sidom
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Jan 19, 2023, 4:18 PM
Post #6 of 8
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Re: 10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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Ok, obviously this type of repair is do at your own risk.
Visual inspections are good, sometimes with electrical it may not reveal anything but with this type of problem I'm guessing you'll probably see something melted.
One thing that can aid you is there is a bunch of short finders out there that really help. I use a bulb style (no LEDs) test light. You just hook the clip to the positive cable, and then touch any ground to make sure it lights up. Then pull the fuses out of the affected circuits and touch the load sides with the test light. If there's a short on the circuit the light will light up. You can also check the power side of the fuse socket, but usually the shorts are on the load side.
Once the light is lit you just start disconnecting things to see if the light will go out, wiggling harnesses to see if the light will go out. Well wiggling the harness if the light even blinks then you're in the right area.
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Frank63
New User
Jan 19, 2023, 7:45 PM
Post #7 of 8
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Re: 10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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Thanks Hammer Time.
I appreciate that you are trying to help, but I did say what is melted in my op. The "trailer" fuse. The melted plastic was hanging down like a drop of wax and the metal tabs were still protruding out of a scorched socket. Finding out why that happened I think is the next step.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Jan 19, 2023, 7:55 PM
Post #8 of 8
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Re: 10 amp "Meter" fuse keeps blowing
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That meter fuse feeds an awful lot. Good luck tracking that down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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