HELP!!! Fuse #17 - Delayed Acc. Keeps Blowing | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

HELP!!! Fuse #17 - Delayed Acc. Keeps Blowing

mac999993

Member
Joined
June 6, 2006
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
City, State
Newtown Square, PA
Year, Model & Trim Level
02 XLT
I've read a couple of posts on here about this problem, but none have helped me to get to the bottom of my problem or how to troubleshoot.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282810&highlight=fuse+17

A month and a half ago, the power windows and radio stopped working. I read on this forum to check fuse #17 which affects the delayed accessory circuit. I found that indeed it was blown, so I replaced it and all seemed fine.

Three weeks later it occurred again. I replaced the fuse again and all seemed fine again until a couple of days ago.

I replaced it for the third time, knowing that there was something else wrong (like a short somewhere) that was causing this to occurr...but figured I'd go ahead while I began researching the cause. I replaced it anyway and it blew again today.

Today I opened up the driver and passenger side doors and checked the wires passing through each door hinge. I didn't find any shorts or broken/cracked wires. When I tried to replace the fuse this time, it blew immediately. My wife and daughter reported that today when it stopped working, smoke came out of the passenger side vent.

NOW THE DRIVER'S WINDOW is open and I can't close it!

Can anyone tell me what might be wrong? Better yet, does anyone have any ideas about how to troubleshoot. Thanks much.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Bump...

I hope to dig into this today. Can anyone help? Thanks again.
 






think the vanity mirrors blow that fuse up. drop down the visors see if the wires are touching the body. cant think if its explorers or aviators with this problem... i would def check that.
 






Thanks Waskly. I checked both vanity mirrors - I didn't see any shorts...wires look good on both visors. Something must be shorted which is causing a large current draw to fry fuse #17 everytime I try to replace it.

Any others areas to look for to give me a clue WHERE there might be a short??? I'm stuck with my window down and a storm is coming my way later tonight.
 






that fuse goes to a whole lot of lights hehe, what lights dont work? my guess would be somewhere in the headliner, put a fuse, in lights on, push up on the headliner, if the vanity mirror connectors, where the 3 screws hold it in to the headliner are fine.

you can check the left hand a pillar, take it off the harness goes up that way. or even better disconnect it, and pop a fuse in. then you know its in the roof.

the headliner harness is glued down, rare occasions it gets unglued and sometimes rubs on the roof of the body, by the lights, or the map lights even, drop the map lights down, see if the harness is fine.
 






Does it control the overdrive switch on the shift handle also? I had 2 ford with the wire under the column covers wore through shorting on the steering column.
 






Does it control the overdrive switch on the shift handle also? I had 2 ford with the wire under the column covers wore through shorting on the steering column.

from what i seen its only vanity mirrors, puddle lamps, and all the interior lights.

only difference in late/early build is grouns is done by the ic on late build early build by gem.
 






Update:

I checked the primary ground wire to the power window switch harness (big black wire). I checked continuity with my multimeter from one lead on the black wire pin and the other lead to ground at the e-brake foot pedal bolt... it checked out fine - full continuity. So at that point I assumed that it was a supply problem to the power window switch.

I took my 12V supply battery (I use for jump starting) and attached the ground (black clamp) to ground on the e-brake foot pedal bolt connection, and took a jumper wire and inserted one end into the blue power supply wire (next to the big black ground wire connector) on the power window switch harness (with the harness still attached to the switch plate) and attached the other end of the jumper to the 12V power supply feed (red clamp).

Walah! The radio began working and the windows then worked. At that point I was at least able to put my window up. Now I have more time to troubleshoot this nightmare!

I'm trying to decide if this approach to close the window actually points me to where the problem may be...

I am thinking that the power feed (blue wire) to the power window switch may be shorted somewhere between its connection to fuse #17 and the power window switch...hence when I try to put a new fuse in (fuse #17), it blows because the shorted draw exceeds the 15A limit. I'm wondering if I run a new 12V power supply wire from the junction point inside the car to the window switch, that my problem (short) might go away.

Make sense?

I'm not really sure where I need to attach the wire inside to make it to the fuse #17 junction, since this fuse junction supplies power to several accessories.
 






Update: I took my handy 12V supply battery (for jump starting) and attached the ground (black clamp) to ground on the e-brake arm connection, and took a jumper wire and inserted one end into the blue power supply wire (next to the big black ground wire connector) on the power window switch harness (with the harness still attached to the switch plate) and attached the other end of the jumper to the 12V power supply feed (red clamp).

Walah! The radio began working and the windows then worked. At that point I was at least able to put my window up.

I'm trying to decide if that points me to where the problem may be...

I am thinking that the power feed (blue wire) to the power window switch is shorted somewhere between its attachment to fuse #17 and the power window switch...hence when I try to put a new fuse in (fuse #17), it blows because the shorted draw exceeds the 15A limit. I'm wondering if I run a new 12V power supply wire from the junction point inside the car to the window switch, that my problem (short) might go away.

Make sense?

I'm not really sure where I need to attach the wire inside to make it to the fuse #17 junction, since this fuse junction supplies power to several accessories.


f2.17 powers 2 relays and all interior lights, you have a interior light problem. goto the a pillar lh side, theres a connector disconnect it and put a new fuse 17, 15amp back in.
 






thanks again waskly... I'm trying to understand how you know that I have an interior light problem...???

The things that currently don't work (from fuse 2.17 blown) are:
1) glovebox light
2) vanity mirror lights
3) interior foot lights (they usually turn on when you open the door, now they don't)
4) power windows (all 4)
5) radio

the rear overhead light, map lights and puddle lights all work.
all instrumentation guages work.

Also... you said that f2.17 "powers 2 relays and all interior lights" where are those relays? ...and where exactly is the connector on the lh side pilar? is this a connector that supplies power to the interior lights?

I thought that the "Delayed Accessory Relay" (Relay #3) supplies power to fuse 2.17... I was figuring that since everytime I try to put in another fuse in and it immedaitely blows that relay #3 must be good.

Also, my 2002 Explorer's build date was 05/2002 - so it's a "late model" - no GEM - from what I've read on other posts.

thanks again.
 






thanks again waskly... I'm trying to understand how you know that I have an interior light problem...???

The things that currently don't work (from fuse 2.17 blown) are:
1) glovebox light
2) vanity mirror lights
3) interior foot lights (they usually turn on when you open the door, now they don't)
4) power windows (all 4)
5) radio

the rear overhead light, map lights and puddle lights all work.
all instrumentation guages work.

Also... you said that f2.17 "powers 2 relays and all interior lights" where are those relays? ...and where exactly is the connector on the lh side pilar? is this a connector that supplies power to the interior lights?

Also, my 2002 Explorer's build date was 05/2002 - so it's a "late model" - no GEM - from what I've read on other posts.

thanks again.

i looked up the power dist on the car hehe, the hot side of the fuse, before it gets grounded, powers a battery saver relay ( basically the thing that clicks off after 30 min or so if you leave lights on so the battery dont die) and powers the acc relay which powers the power windows etc.

for the fuse to blow, you have to have a short in the interior lights, glove box, vanity mirrors, or the lights in the roof row 1 / 2 or 3.

the plug on the a pliar is how all the lights inside get connected. so if you unplug that connector, and the fuse does not blow, you know the problem is in the roof of the car.
 






awesome... if you help me locate that plug on the driver's side (lh) pilar I would REALLY appreciate it... any pictures or references - where on the pilar, or what it looks like (wire color, wire size, etc.) to help me???

If I pull the driver's side pilar cover off, would it be obvious?
 






awesome... if you help me locate that plug on the driver's side (lh) pilar I would REALLY appreciate it... any pictures or references - where on the pilar, or what it looks like (wire color, wire size, etc.) to help me???

If I pull the driver's side pilar cover off, would it be obvious?

drivers side a pillar should be the peice of plastic between the headliner and the dashboard.

its a square connector. should only be one connector in that location.
 






That worked waskly... You were spot on! I pulled the driver's side pilar cover off. There is a green connector close to the dash. I disconnected it, and then was able to install a new 15A fuse into the f2.17 slot without blowing. The radio and power windows now work!

Now, I have to figure out where the short is coming from in the overhead lights or visor vanity lights!

How do I do that!? Do I have to take down the headliner? I noticed that there wasn't a electrical connector to the vanity mirror lights when I disconnected them earlier, unless they are under the headliner somewhere. Can I just disconnect them somehow? I don't ever use them.
 






That worked waskly... You were spot on! I pulled the driver's side pilar cover off. There is a green connector close to the dash. I disconnected it, and then was able to install a new 15A fuse into the f2.17 slot without blowing. The radio and power windows now work!

Now, I have to figure out where the short is coming from in the overhead lights or visor vanity lights!

How do I do that!? Do I have to take down the headliner? I noticed that there wasn't a electrical connector to the vanity mirror lights when I disconnected them earlier, unless they are under the headliner somewhere. Can I just disconnect them somehow? I don't ever use them.

the vanity lights are shorted my guess you see where they bolt in with the 3 bolts on the piviot points, unscrew that, theres a connector in them, check that. also map lights for pass/driver, think theres a metal bracket behind that, that they catch.

if none of those 2 fix it, drop the headliner :(
 






If I disconnect the vanity mirror connectors, assuming I can locate them somewhere under the headliner... I presume that would solve my ground problems... right?
 






If I disconnect the vanity mirror connectors, assuming I can locate them somewhere under the headliner... I presume that would solve my ground problems... right?

they pull through and down, once the sun visors are unscrewed they come down, they will have an electrical plug that will also come down, it might be gloved to the headliner, just gently pull it down dont yank it. they have 2 very thin wires. when i talk about the vanity mirrors i don't mean take the assembly out of the sun visor. i mean unbolt or unscrew the sun visor from the car. it has 3 Philips screws. where they pivot left/right
 






if its not the sunvisors. or the drivers side/passenger side map lights.

find some duck tape, lower the headliner enough to see the wire harness on top if it , and just place duck tape over it. should solve the problem. just the problem is the headliner is kinda big on an explorer.

do this last, since the sun visors and map lights do not need the headliner removed. and are common for breaking.
 






Many Thanks waskly...you helped me big time! I took down the passenger side visor and unclipped the visor connector, then plugged the pilar connector back in, and fuse #17 did not blow. So the passenger vanity mirror was the problem. Everything is solid again. Thanks for looking up those wiring diagrams and helping me track that down!
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.











Back
Top