2005 explorer fuse 17 problems

[grace schlenker]

new to this forum and I don't know much about cars but I need help finding the problem that's causing fuse 17 to blow.for Christmas my boyfriend bought me a new radio and installed it with no problems, it worked for a several weeks with no problems then all of a sudden fuse 17 blows so he replaced it and it blew 2 more time within a week. Also keep in mind my daughter is 14 months and loves to push buttons and whatnot on the drivers side when we are in the car. One time I do no pennies in the car charger port. So this last time it blew was right after I found her stuffing pennies in my door panel where the window is held then I found pennies in the floor panel where the wires run back to the speakers!! So at this point i don't know if my boyfriend messes up somewhere or maybe my problem is the baby but either way I need to find the problem to stop the fuse from blowing bc my windows radio and gas gauge are not working without it! Help! Please!!

 

[koda2000]

I don't own a 2005, but Ford doesn't typically make that many changes to there wiring circuits, so perhaps this will still apply... Check your owner's manual to verify what circuits are protected by fuse 17.

On my '01 fuse 17 protects the PCM and the cig lighter. Do you use for cig lighter to plug in a charger? If so I've had problems in the past where chargers short out the cig lighter/power port and blow fuse 17. Have you tried making sure nothing is plugged in when changing fuse 17?

When the radio was installed, was a harness adapter used and were all wire splices well insulated (not by using electrical tape)? I don't know if the radio is even protected by fuse 17.

 

[sickwilly]

The upper cig lighter is also connected to the molding that was likely pulled when the radio was installed. I would have him pull that molding again and check all wires.