I would leave as it was designed and not swap the positions.
Melted Ground Wires & Fuse Nº 4 problem
- Thread starter EuroE9
- Start date
My wife knows well the next phrase I utter: "I am tired of being right"
.With the original design a short in the headlight circuit can lead (and has lead) to the wires melting, maybe a fire.
With your modification the headlight circuit is fused and a short will just blow the fuse. Some people have kept the original design and added an in-line fuse, that also works. Leaving original like Chris suggests plus in-line fuse is the best technically because the inline fuse can be rated for just the headlights and not the sum of all circuits, and also because a spurious short in the other circuits cannot leave you without headlights...
No. With the fuse intact the battery fanout of the involved circuits is the same.
Do you have a battery drain problem?
I had a battery drainage problem when I replaced the trunk rubber gaskets and the trunk light would stay on. I put my young daughter inside the closed trunk and she confirmed the light stayed on. Nowadays people put their phones inside and film instead and give their children harder chores. Like go configure my wifi-router.
In short, you will have to explore drain one fuse at a time, and then one circuit at time. The slow leaks are the hardest.
This will confirm if the change was done on purpose.
Last edited:
It makes perfect sense, my problem now is that both @HB Chris and you seem to have quite a bit of knowledge of E9 electricity, but both of you are proposing opposite options.My wife knows well the next phrase I utter: "I am tired of being right"
With the original design a short in the headlight circuit can lead (and has lead) to the wires melting, maybe a fire.
With your modification the headlight circuit is fused and a short will just blow the fuse. Some people have kept the original design and added an in-line fuse, that also works. Leaving original like Chris suggests plus in-line fuse is the best technically because the inline fuse can be rated for just the headlights and not the sum of all circuits, and also because a spurious short in the other circuits cannot leave you without headlights...
No. With the fuse intact the battery fanout of the involved circuits is the same.
Do you have a battery drain problem?
I had a battery drainage problem when I replaced the trunk rubber gaskets and the trunk light would stay on. I put my young daughter inside the closed trunk and she confirmed the light stayed on. Nowadays people put their phones inside and film instead and give their children harder chores. Like go configure my wifi-router.
In short, you will have to explore drain one fuse at a time, and then one circuit at time. The slow leaks are the hardest.
This will confirm if the change was done on purpose.
I don’t have 12amp fuses, I could try with a 16 amp fuse.
the battery drainage comment was just an idea, as far as I know, I don’t have this problem, I hope.
I don’t have kids around yet, my only baby at the moment is my E9…. but fortunately when I close the trunk I can the light switching off from the hole of the rear self speaker…
That is easy, Chris is the authority!
Not always but if it works the way it was designed I tend to keep it that way!
I a, concerned about this, a extra piece of copper wire push into a connection. Sounds like a perfect candidate for an electrical short circuit, the short that happens when you move or vibrate the car, ie drive it.
Update:
I did test drives with a 16 amp fuse on the #4 fuse, and it wasn't nearly instantaneous like the 8 amp fuse, it took a little longer to blow but eventually, it did too.
So I decided to go back to the factory settings and put the 2.5mm battery cable (33) in the red zone (input), so far so good, but I'll keep an eye out for melted brown ground wires. I initially found myself.
I did test drives with a 16 amp fuse on the #4 fuse, and it wasn't nearly instantaneous like the 8 amp fuse, it took a little longer to blow but eventually, it did too.
So I decided to go back to the factory settings and put the 2.5mm battery cable (33) in the red zone (input), so far so good, but I'll keep an eye out for melted brown ground wires. I initially found myself.
After yesterday's test lap, I noticed that the left gauge (for fuel and temperature) is creating condensation inside.
It looks like it may be coming from the hood release cable hole, so I've stripped everything down and insulated this watch better as well as the hood cable hole.
This morning I went out again, no problems with fuse #4, no hot wires, lights always on. But the temperature and gasoline gauge condensed again, although at the end of the 30 kms the condensation it had already disappeared.
Since I disassembled the instrument cluster, I took the opportunity to check the clock (it didn't work) and it was the internal fuse, I put a tin solder point on it and it started working. So considering that today I got up at 5:00 to work on the car, I made the most of the morning.
.
The problem I have now is the clock seems to be slow, approximately 20 minutes every hour, more or less. Guess I'll have to take him to a specialist.
I had never been in such a collaborative forum, you can see the love that you all have for your cars.
Thank you all very much for your support, without you I would not have found the problem.
It looks like it may be coming from the hood release cable hole, so I've stripped everything down and insulated this watch better as well as the hood cable hole.
This morning I went out again, no problems with fuse #4, no hot wires, lights always on. But the temperature and gasoline gauge condensed again, although at the end of the 30 kms the condensation it had already disappeared.
Since I disassembled the instrument cluster, I took the opportunity to check the clock (it didn't work) and it was the internal fuse, I put a tin solder point on it and it started working. So considering that today I got up at 5:00 to work on the car, I made the most of the morning.
The problem I have now is the clock seems to be slow, approximately 20 minutes every hour, more or less. Guess I'll have to take him to a specialist.
I had never been in such a collaborative forum, you can see the love that you all have for your cars.
Thank you all very much for your support, without you I would not have found the problem.
Attachments
Condensation is common if it is at all a bit cold or damp out, happens to me all the time but only that one gauge. Great job!
Yes the condensation issue in that gauge is common, also sensitive to ambient changes in humidity. I’ve wondered if drilling a small hole in the back of the gauge case would help.
Great progress!
The clock has an adjustment screw in the back I think labeled +/-.
You can try adjusting it in the direction you need, but I found it is not very precise unless you get the quartz version.
The condensation issue can only be solved by moving to Arizona I fear.
The clock has an adjustment screw in the back I think labeled +/-.
You can try adjusting it in the direction you need, but I found it is not very precise unless you get the quartz version.
The condensation issue can only be solved by moving to Arizona I fear.
I would love to visit Arizona one day, but for now I have to admit that in Spain the weather is quite good, but rainy and cold from time to time that is true. I will take a look at the setting on the back of the clock, however I will consider purchasing the quartz version.
I have a question, I have already managed to get the engine compartment light to work, but it only works when the lights are on. If I turn off the lights, the engine light goes out, I expected the behavior to be the same as the trunk light or the interior light, which work independently of the light switch.
Great, I will beat Chris to this trivia punch. The engine light is indeed connected to one of the headlights I believe, so it works when any lights (parking or driving) are on, or when the engine is OFF and the turn signal stalk is to one side (I forget which).
This is done to ensure the engine light is not inadvertently left on during the day as it has no hood position switch but rather a manual switch...
Arde, you nailed it again!
Great @Arde, thanks. And thank you @HB Chris to.
Yesterday I checked the electrical diagram and indeed the gray-yellow wire comes out of fuse one and goes to a connector that sends a wire to the left Headlight and another wire to the engine compartment light. Even so, I asked you because I had my doubts. I still don't understand the diagrams very well and although I saw that the light was also connected to one of the Headlights, I didn't understand how it worked very well. Thank you very much for solving my doubt.
In euro cars the hood light shares the wire that powers the 4 watt bulb in the left low beam headlamp that we call a City Light. In the USA that wire goes into the drivers side left turn signal housing and we call it a marker light.
The thought is if you have a roadside problem in your engine bay and need a light then you likely should have your position on the road illuminated front and aft and left to right.
The thought is if you have a roadside problem in your engine bay and need a light then you likely should have your position on the road illuminated front and aft and left to right.
Last edited: