Solving Electrical Problems Acura Vigor -EricTheCarGuy
Вставка
- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- **Please note that I replaced the fuse before I started shooting the video. In other words the fuse is new so it wasn't an issue with the fuse itself.
While replacing the blower motor in my 1993 Acura Vigor I disconnected some things I didn't need to disconnect. While putting everything back together I accidentally switched a couple of connectors. This created some problems as you might imagine. This video shows how I diagnosed and solved those problems. The principals applied can be used with many electrical problems you might encounter. Remember, the wiring diagram is your best friend when it comes to electrical problems so be sure to find the most accurate diagrams you can. Personally, I think the service manual has the best diagrams and that's what I recommend you look for when looking for wiring diagrams.
Related Videos.
Acura Vigor Blower Motor Replacement (Part 1): • Acura Vigor Blower Mot...
Acura Vigor Blower Motor Replacement (Part 2): • Acura Vigor Blower Mot...
Acura Vigor Blower Motor Replacement (Part 3): • Acura Vigor Blower Mot...
Electrical Systems Basics: • Automotive Electrical ...
Electrical Trouble Shooting Basics: • Electrical Troubleshoo...
Electrical Trouble Shooting Basics 2: • Electrical Troubleshoo...
Useful Articles.
Electrical Problems
www.ericthecarg...
Engine overheat
www.ericthecarg...
No start problems
www.ericthecarg...
Idle issues
www.ericthecarg...
Performance issues
www.ericthecarg...
Diagnosing Noises
www.ericthecarg...
Diagnosing Vibrations
www.ericthecarg...
Brake Issues
www.ericthecarg...
Transmission issues
www.ericthecarg...
HVAC problems
www.ericthecarg...
Buying a Used Car
www.ericthecarg...
Leaks
www.ericthecarg...
MPG
ericthecarguy.c...
Discussion about this Video: www.ericthecarg...
ETCG Forum: www.ericthecarg...
Facebook: www.facebook.c...
Twitter: / ericthecarguy
Google+: plus.google.co...
Information on Premium Membership: www.ericthecarg...
Stay Dirty
ETCG
Due to factors beyond the control of EricTheCarGuy, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. EricTheCarGuy assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. EricTheCarGuy recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of EricTheCarGuy, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not EricTheCarGuy.
ETCG did the previous advt. videos knowing his loyal viewers would understand the reasons behind. He had a repair video lined up right after for everyone who knows he is still a boss after all these years. Thanks for the vid Eric.
My Hondas cooling fan turns off intermittently and this video gave me an idea where to start. Thanks Eric.
I always take the positive cable off when doing electrical work just in-case there is a draw on the system somewhere. Maybe this is over kill.
Glad you got it fixed
Great video. Post mortem on fuse box circuit board was a delightful bonus.
Watched the video. The black marks on the inside are known as carbon tracks. They come from too much voltage going through the circuit. More then likely from when you had your switches reversed. Those carbon tracks come from copper in this case being consumed due to the heat from the over voltage. If you did apply voltage to that you would find the resistance increases as it heats up due to there being less copper to carry the load and also the carbon creating impedance. It however is not water damage as you would have green tinting to it and it more then likely would run the length of the board staining the white plastic. I am very glad to see you did a voltage drop on the actual circuit though most people just do resistance which will show you corrosion but, not broken strands inside a twisted wire. All and all good video.
I didn't know that is the best way to check fuses and their connections. Always just used resistance beep mode.
Helpful as always, thanks :)
Glad you fixed the problem. I don't see how there could be a voltage drop across a good fuse so I suspect a short (the burn marks may have been proof) was burning out each new fuse you were putting in position 8 of the old fuse box. Great video as always.
I said to my wife when we was watching your other video taking that blower unit out, that he's a real pro for remembering all where the cables goes. I guess I spoke too soon, you are only human and respect to you for pointing it out.
I hate electrical problems. I reckon though, Electrical Contact Spray might have fixed it.
EricTheCarGuy Excellent video and repair mate! You performed great work. Electrical troubles are sometimes a real headache. Regards,
I think many people are missing the point of this video. Eric had a problem with his car that he solved quickly and efficiently. True his explanation of voltages across fuses was not particularly complete (4 volts drop at 8 amps = 32 watts => a very hot fuse). However he only really needed to determine if it was worth replacing the whole unit or not. In my opinion this really demonstrates the advantage of owning a 20th century car over a 21st century car. A quick probe around with a meter and a session on ebay followed by less than a hours work and all is working again. Try that on a modern car...
Been there... kinda frustrating...but fixed is fixed! life's mysteries!
Wow I'm not the only one going threw the vigor hell. But for being a late 1991 and knowing owners history not bad. Put a lot of work in and runs bad ass! Anyways great videos" really good hands on teaching others!
Eric, your videos are always great. Since the wiring diagram was what made it possible to solve the problem you should show it and explain how you came to the conclusion that all the components were in the same circuit etc.
Looks like you'll have to make another video just tell people you already changed the fuse out before testing on video.
Very interesting video, don't often see videos about deeper electrical problems like these much less the inside of a fuse box.
Damn it boy!!! Wow Eric you really took it to the grain! Nice job I really enjoyed this video, but I enjoyed even more the effort you put forward in solving the problem.
A few ideas if you want to chase this further.
Micro crack in one of the circuit board traces. Try lightly bending the board in both directions to see if the resistance changes to fuse 8.
A small piece of metal was loose in the fuse box and shorted across traces.
Cold solder joint at a connection on the board. This would change resistance with temperature and vibration.
I've had fuses change in current capacity due to an short term overload. The result is a fuse that looks good but has a hidden high resistance connection. Its worth changing fuses as first step.
By replacing the CPU individually you were able to narrow down the culprit to the fusebox itself. It's not going to be a relay or a bad fuse or mysteriously 2 bad partially blown fuses as other people have suggested (which is near impossible however you can still test for it just in case). I think it's a simple contact issue you just didn't find it. It's likely associated with the lower female pin on the fuse 8 socket. Loose female sockets in a fusebox will definitely blow from intermittent contact. They can also exhibit voltage drop and intermittent connection spikes due to poor contact (higher resistance). One way to confirm that is to crack open that fuse box again and put 12v on the copper traces for Pin 8 then measure at both ends of each individual trace (with CPU removed from equation). Look for voltage drop across the 2 traces (incoming/outgoing trace test). If that checks out then put the fuse back into the socket and test it again with the fuse installed. I bet you'd narrow down the culprit real quick that way. Would like to see you do a RE video using those methods. ;)
Vigor? New to me man. Sucks having to remove the whole dash to replace blower motor...thats ridiculous.
I would like to see a wideband+oil pressure gauge install! Thanks, enjoy your videos.
A little problem came up after replacing the blower motor in the Vigor. This is how I fixed it. Solving Electrical Problems Acura Vigor -EricTheCarGuy
Hey Eric, had you already tried replacing the original #8 fuse?
John Mason Yes, it's noted in the description.
EricTheCarGuy Ah cool. A weird one for sure. Thanks for another great video!
Hey, I have a question based on electrical. So I have a 91 honda civic, and it's instrumental lights are not working, but then when I checked the fuse box the fuse for that light is fine. Though the alternator fuse keeps blowing out, every time I replace it. The rest of the fuse are fine. What causes that to happen? And is there another way to solve this issues??
Great video, Eric! I think I'd have lost some hair trying to diagnose that one.
The first thing I think of when I see a voltage drop across a fuse is that *current is flowing*. Effectively you're doing a voltage drop test across the fuse -- when investigating parasitic drain this is how I try to quickly identify which circuit is involved. A bad fuse would not cause this without current flow.
As I read a bunch of comments that didn't quite get it, this occurred to me. You're dead on. It's a voltage drop test! :) It is far more helpful than checking ohms of resistance. I've never been able to condemn a bad fuse with ohm's law alone. Now, when you include a load on the circuit and a voltage drop test, then you'll see what you're looking for.
You don't have to see the ohm's of resistance to know it's there my electronics teacher said, the evidence of it will do just fine.
I think back then multimeters weren't a cheaply available any man's tool.
If there is a voltage drop accross the fuse then the problem is definately in that area. U changed the fuse so all that is left is a high resistance contact where the fuse makes contact with the terminals in the fuse box. Either a dirty contact or the joint not being firm between the blades on the fuse and the contacts in the fuse box. Hope this helps
Good job Eric. I always enjoy your vids on the Vigor, as I try and relate it to possible problems/solutions for my 94 Legend. I personally think you did a good job identifying the possible issue for the defroster, cooling fan and mirror malfunction. Keep up the great work! Take care.
Most expensive and labor intensive fuse replacement ever.
Blown Fuse. Any voltage difference indicates a fuse has blown, or has a bad connection inside the fuse itself. The resistance of an automtive grade fuse is for all intents and purposes 0, so therefore no voltage drop. At a minimum, the fuse had to be blown (the only way for there to be a voltage drop that large), and what fixed the situation was the new box's good fuse, not the box itself.
I don't mean to be a "whiner", but I see something overlooked. Since you had the part I can see a preemptive swap but I think your rationale was somewhat off.
Larry Bolan The fuse was fine, it was the first thing I checked. If it was blown, there would have been voltage on one side and none on the other. As you pointed out the fuse itself should not have any resistance. Since there was a lower voltage on one side that indicated resistance inside the circuit somewhere. In this case it was the fuse box itself that caused the issue. The proof is in the fix.
EricTheCarGuy Sounds like a cracked fuse. Works until you put any real load on it.
That voltage drop across the fuse was a sure sign.
Scott Henion The first thing I did when the problem showed up was to change the fuse. That didn't end up in the video because I wasn't going to make a video about how I changed a fuse and fixed the problem. Once the fuse didn't fix the problem I checked the voltage drop and then decided to shoot the video.
K The first thing I did was change the fuse. That happened before I started shooting the video. I wasn't going to make a video about how I changed a fuse. The issue was indeed inside the fuse box and not the fuse itself. Thanks for your input.
oh the No problem... bad luck perhaps :)
At one point my girlfriend's Saab convertible started having a horrifying issue, the driver's seat would push itself forward all the way WHILE you were driving. I pulled the fuse and just left it like that, but later I decided to do some digging and found the issue. The adjuster moves forward/backwards and up/down, as well as the back going forward and backwards along with three memory settings. Water had dripped into the car onto the switch and after 13 years of that happening had corroded the memory switch circuit board making two of the channels touch and causing it to randomly slide the seat forward. Water in circuit boards can be a real pain, and something you don't always expect.
17:49 you can fix this and solder a bridge over that spot of burning wiring. you need some skill to do that make an exact power delivery of this part of the board. this is very useful if you cant find a replacement fuse box in some rare cars or if it cost a fortune to replace in some German saloons.
Eric, after reading through some of the comments, its AMAZING to see the number of critics out there! I get that this is a forum for expressing ones opinion, but IMO, it can be a little too much! It takes a lot of guts and patience to do what you do. What I mean is, you could've easily left out the fact that when reinstalling your dash after the HVAC repairs, you plugged some connections in the wrong place, but you didn't. That just shows that know matter how experienced you are, you're still prone to making mistakes...WE ALL ARE. As for identifying the issue with the fuses and testing, I know little too nothing about, however I learned much today from your video. I think an interesting topic of discussion for your ETCG channel, would be can one know too much, not just in the mechanics profession, but in any profession, which can sometimes make diagnosis more difficult than it should be. Can ones wealth of knowledge and tenure in said profession cause them to misdiagnose or over diagnose an issue. Just a thought. THANKS AGAIN ERIC!!!!
Eric makes a living from posting videos on UA-cam so making a mistake and a video about how to fix it is just one more thing on his monetizables list and it also keeps things "real" - keeps people from starting to believe he never makes mistakes.
Tell you what, if you liked that be sure to watch some of his other electrical videos. He covers alternators and starters and does voltage drop tests on them as well. An ohms of resistance test has never been helpful to me for finding a bad fuse. I need a power probe. :)
What voltage drop he saw across the top versus the base of the fuse is a principle to be used all over the engine.
The reason a lot of people thought it was a bad fuse was because they didn't realize, that when probing the back of fuse, he was seeing the condition of the circuitry behind it. Voltage drop tests say, "Problem is somewhere in here."
I've learned a lot from him. I spent more time writing a commet to you than others because you're attitude is worth it.
DE Nichols If you probe the back of a fuse, you cannot get a voltage difference between terminals unless the fuse is bad/blown since a good fuse has very low resistance - usually in the order of 0.01 ohm for small fuses, even lower for large ones.
In order to see 1.5V across a "good" fuse, that fuse would need to carry over 150A, which is not going to happen for long on a 7.5A fuse.
He already changed the fuse. You're telling me another fuse would go bad identically when he tested it afterwards? So unlikely! He wasn't going to do a video on just a fuse exchange so he wasn't on video yet.
DE Nichols
If there was a short in the fuse box, any new fuse he put in would blow up the second he turns the switch to ON, if not immediately after putting it in. That would be a very repeatable result across two, ten or a hundred fuses until the battery dies or the short blows open.
As has been said by me and others dozens of times in the comments: you will NEVER read any significant voltage across a good fuse since a good fuse is nothing more than a very short piece of wire and there is no voltage worth speaking about across a short piece of wire unless the fuse is either passing current well beyond its rupture current or is bad/blown.
There had to be resistance in the fuse or in the slot for the #8 fuse, if I had to guess I'd say the current draw due to a mixed up connection melted or somehow otherwise marginally shorted the connections in the box before the fuse popped. 1993 kick panel I'd say the metal was somewhat corroded.
Hey Eric,
I think the reason why you didn't measure any excess resistance in the circuit on the fuse box at the end of the video was because there was no load on the circuit.
Also, there are a lot of people talking with such authority in these comments!
Excellent diagnoses !!!!
One of the advantages of driving a 30 year old Chevy truck is, just a giant harness plugs into the back of the fuse box. However, if you fry something in that harness, you're screwed.
"I push button. It don't work" lol classic..
Edit: disregard below comment, you already addressed this many times.
So many people assume a fuse fails 100% but *sometimes* a fuse can partially fail though not blow completely. It would take 10 seconds to do so I guess that's why I'm confused. Sometimes the fuse link can fail near the top post section in the area not clearly visible at first glance. Maybe you now have one bad fuse in your jar of 'known good' fuses.
Great video :) thx ! I was thingking about one of these relays on top of the fuse box. the electronics do the 'thinking' but the relays are sending the actual power to the electrics
Cool video. Lot's of controversy here. It was the most efficient thing to do. Scientifically speaking you changed about 25 parts and then tested it, so we don't know whether it was the new box or the parts that were on the new box that fixed it. I would suspect the control unit but you mentioned in comment that you later tested that. So, my next guess is a relay. Fuses and fuse box are quite simple and hard to damage compared to the relay and control unit.
One thing ive learnt after owning a few cars.. Buy one with the least amount of electrics in it!!! haha. 90% of my car problems most of my life, have been electrical. Love my ND pajero, only electric thing in that is the ignition and lights!
Thank you for this video, I was hoping that you would do a video on electrical problems! :D
Amperage is the only way you can test for a high resistance problem. DVOM will allways go to 0.1ohms if there is even the slightest connection.
Good job
with the length's eric went to replace that blower motor, i'm surprised he hasn't gotten better front seats, that blower replace was probably worth more than the actual car if done in the shop this car went from a 500$ beater to like 2000ish$ in value.
I had a demon in my 92 legend for a while. 6 different shops couldn't figure it out I couldn't figure it out, none of my gear head buddies could figure it out just poof one day the car quit firing. Replaced ALL harnesses, dielectric greased the hell out of everything, sanded all ground connections nothing helped. Then one day I was ripping parts out and it started raining... Well the drain channels for my sun/moon roof were clogged and water was running right where the interior fuse box was. Replaced the fuse box, cleaned the drain channel out and the car ran for another 5 years....
Eric, I would love to see you repair motorcycles.
If you ever find one cheap, buy it and do a video on repairing it, would be awesome
Love the videos as always, and am actually doing a press fit wheel bearing and brake tuneup based off your videos but I really wanted to see the resistance across that fuse by itself, just out of curiosity. Other than that great video.
It was the fuse itself. The fuse was almost blown causing increased resistance and a voltage drop ACROSS the fuse, not through the affected circuit.
could use something like a 12 v headlight and jumpers , that may make circuit to drop . opps I typed this during the last part of video and you just mentioned this. Sorrry.LOL
That negative battery connector you have... Ditch it while you can!
I had one of those on my own personal vehicle, and as of about two weeks ago, I found it was the sole contributor to the steady decline of my car's operating condition. That style of connector gives zero protection to the cable, and the corrosion makes its way down the wire at a remarkably fast rate. What's fun is that it doesn't affect big things! Lights are good, starter has no problem... It's all the little things. The level of corrosion I found (10" back into the sheathing on a ~3' wire) is apparently enough to turn the entire ground-side of the vehicle wiring harness into a huge antenna. Every switch, relay and solenoid on the car caused weird things to happen. Threw a scope on the electrical system, and the amount of noise was just insane--WAY above the average threshold in my garage. Sensors were reporting inaccurate information.
Verification (as if the scope wasn't enough)? 4ga braided ground strap between the presumed-defective cable and the battery ground, so ALL grounds had to pass through it to reach the battery. The noise on the scope was gone.
Long story short? Replaced the primary ground cable from the battery to the starter/engine block using 4ga high strand count OFC copper cable, used 8ga between the battery and the primary body ground, and built a ground distribution block to sit on top of the battery, which connects to the battery with that 4ga braided lead.
The results? ~4mpg better over the next two tanks of gas, and +11whp average over three pulls on the dyno (I do dyno pulls any time I make large changes). That's a lot for a car only rated for 150hp at the crank from the factory.
Change your connector. :-)
rhkips I'm also not fond of those connectors. Thing is in order to put it back the way it's suppose to be would require replacing the cable. That said, I'll just keep an eye on it for corrosion. Thanks for your input. No Crank No Start, Checking Battery Terminals - EricTheCarGuy
I too have had dramatic results with finding corrosion and cutting it out.
I gained a similar amount of mpg's back. Sorry, can't remember how much. That was about 7 months ago. I spend a lot of time getting mpg back since that's been my focus too.
By the way, percentage of mpg increase is more important than what number you're at. So what's the actual mpg that you got up to?
But it's more than mpg. Finding and eliminating corrosion on the battery cable? The engine roared to life after the change! Now that's driving excitement. :)
Purr converted to roar. :)
I hate those things with a passion as well. They are bulky, use a stupid 13mm nut on the clamp, stop clamping to the terminal after a while, and as you stated the "connection" they try to make is abysmal.
I would put the meter in amps DC across the fuse to see how big the current flow should be to drop 1V in a fuse without blowing it. Tricky one for sure.
Hi Eric,
After watching the video and seeing that there may have been signs of corrosion on the PCB's (printed circuit board) top board, bottom board and the terminals of the fuse block. You possibly could have had corroded terminals or tracks on the PCB, so if you cleaned the surface of the PCB's and terminals, this may have fixed the problem.
Even if you tested the continuity of the tracks on the PCB, the probes of the multimeter may have been enough to scratch the surface of the copper (thus showing continuity).
In this case, maybe some mentholated spirit and a scourer could have cleaned the corrosion and all be fine.....
(thats my 2cents)
Very good video but a very awkward place to put a fusebox. I would have thought that with the slight voltage drop on the fuse line that the accessories would still work somewhat or maybe I am missing something.
Eric, put the original fuse #8 into the new fuse box and see if it affects it.
The problem was in the female side of the fuse connector on the top of that fuse. when you probed the top it, it pushed the fuse in and you got 12v when you moved to the bottom it went to 10v, a good fuse has no voltage drop, your connection was not great at 12v because a fully charged battery is 12.6v, plugging in the wrong connector probably stressed out the connection when the mirror selector switch was turning on the fog lights, at least you solved it and got it straitened out.
I've actually had a partial failure of a fuse before. I know how that sounds, but I can't think of any other way to describe it. I had a 1996 dodge neon that was only firing on 2 of the 4 cylinders. I found that I wasn't getting spark on the number 2 and 3 leads of the coil pack. I drove the car onto a car trailer and towed it home, but it wouldn't start again after that. I replaced the coil pack with one out of a junkyard, thinking that would solve the problem.
Because there was only one fuse for the coil and it was still working on 2 of the 4 outputs I thought that it couldn't possibly be the fuse. Sure enough, the fuse was blown when I checked it and the old coil fired on all 4 when I tested it after replacing the fuse. It never happened again and to this day I can't figure out why it did.
I generally like your videos. However, I find this one very frustrating. Initially, when you had the two connectors wrongly connected, and the fog lights only worked when you toggled the switch, the fog lights were searching for a ground connection (it found it through the mirror motors). Next, when you had three components not working (mirrors, rear defrost and radiator fans) besides looking at the fuse as the common denominator, there is another component that appears in common, the relay that sends power to these items (there is no way that a radiator fan circuit is protected on a 7.5 amp fuse). I would like you to test the relay for these components to see if it is defective. Finally, get out the wiring diagram and show it on the video.
Exactly. The voltage drop is likely a failed shorted diode across the coil in the relay. A current measurement across the fuse terminals (without fuse) should have shown a drain if all the loads on the circuit are off/not in use.
johnwrench4speed I think I should have shown the wiring diagram in the video to make things more clear, I'll give you that. As for how the circuit operates, it all passes through the integrated control unit and fuse box through fuse 8. This part of the circuit is the control side so there are no relays in this part of the circuit, just a few transistors in the integrated control unit. The only high amp circuit was the rear defroster. I believe that backfed through the circuit damaging the fuse box.
Sirus There are no diodes in that part of the circuit that I know of. At least they weren't on the wiring diagram.
they are usualy built into the relay on the coil or on the drive circuit such as the ICU
I would guess a small short somewhere in the system. Since it showed problems only when in the vehicle.
very very great and useful thanks friend
Do we need Daniel Sullivan to get on this fuse debate? He has a great youtube channel. Inventor of the LOADpro too.
Great design, remove the dash for the blower motor.. Lol.. Very easy dash to remove at least.. I did several when I was with acura..
Cool. U replied to me. Haha awsome. We'll. nice to know u took those steps. Just wondering since it wasn't shown. But it's awsome that u got it fixed :)
You said that you replaced the fuse, but any significant voltage drop across a fuse surely indicates a faulty fuse. Maybe there was another problem that was causing the fuses to fail as soon as you swapped them.
I agree, that fuse has to be bad. There is no possible way that something else could cause that drop in voltage. Either the fuse is bad or the connection on the back of the fuse is bad. either way, nothing else could cause a voltage drop somewhere else in the system. Wonder if scanner danner would chime in?
Eric, I like all your videos and learned so much from you, thank you! BUT I have to agree with others about this one - the fuse in the fuse box and the one you tried to replace are both bad! Since you detected the voltage drop on the fuse it self, there are only two possible reason for that, first the fuse is bad and have a high resistant, and second the fuse is good, but there was a very high current flow through it. The second one is almost impossible because it will need tens or even hundreds of amps to get a 2v drop on a good fuse, and that was a 7.5 amp fuse, it should blowed already, even the fuse could hold up that current the that current will fry other parts that connect to the fuse.
So that fuse must be bad, check the resistant if you still have it!
Eric the fuse was faulty, if you have a drop across it, its dead.
zx8401ztv It was replaced before I shot the video.
EricTheCarGuy
OOOW no dead fuse, no faulty fusebox, spooky lol.
Honda uses Lucas Electrics?
I've been using the door pin as a ground for year also! :P
Automotive fuses should be 0 ohms resistance, however they never are 0 micro-ohm. There is always a small amount of resistance. If there was absolutely no resistance, no heat would ever be produced, and thus the fuse would never blow. When there is lower resistance on the circuit being protected, but not low enough to blow the fuse it will warm up. The warmer the fuse gets, the higher the resistance. It is rare that resistance through the fuse can reach an equilibrium with the circuit like this, but it happens and can be a bear to figure out. If you were to inspect the boards from the fuse panel with a microscope you will probably find an area where the insulation between them has become hot and allows current to flow from board to board. That's a guess though.
Great video
The fuse was blown, you will not get 2 different values on opposited sides of a fuse if the internal link is good, its like getting a large volatge drop on a clean bare copper wire from one point to another point 5 Millimeters away, it wont happen, you had a bad fuse, one side was getting battery 12 volts and the other side was most likely feedback voltage coming from a shared ground on another circuit that's disconnected or has corrosion or high resistance causing the other cicuits positive voltage to find ground back through the ground of this circuit and through its load back up the positive side to fusebox and into your meter. Theres is probably some dim light on your car that you don't even know about and its got a bad ground thats shared with this circuit and the two wires are crimped together and bolted down on a ring terminal somewhere and it's all rusty. To me you threw parts at it without any good explanation of WHY? That makes this a very poor electrical diagnosis video, there are no electrical ghosts or mysteries, there are always simple answers. A.S.S. Always. Something. Simple.
MrTurdfergusen I wish I would have put this in the video but I replaced the fuse before I started shooting. I noted this in both the video and the description. In fact, I wasn't even going to shoot a video of this repair if it would have been just a fuse. That was the first thing I checked after all. I think it would be very unlikely to have 2 blown fuses. I've run into a similar issue to this in the past and it was the integrated control unit. They sometimes have issues on Hondas.
most likely there was a short circuit on the fuse box or on relays that blew this exact fuse the exact time you tested it by connecting battery as well it blew the first fuse. I agree with MrTurdfergusen that the fuse was bad and thats why you measured 1v voltage drop on it. there is no electrical physics law to explain this voltage drop on a fuse when the fuse acts properly and is not blown. if there was a voltage drop of 1V on a fuse, well, we would call it diode.
jimis04 i think that you tested the fuse if its bad or not by measuring resistance or in diode mode while the fuse was ON the fuse box. that is wrong. we test fuses OFF the fuse box by disconnecting them since testing them while connected might trick as by not showing open circuit becayse of another internal connection normal or made by short circuit. The ideal would be to take the fuse off and test it. i pretty sure it would be blown. and then test the fuse box by measuring resistance on the place the blown fuse was without the fuse of course. You would propably see the short circuit that was the cause of the problem initially.
jimis04 If there is a problem somewhere else in the circuit, on the other side of the fuse before the load in the circuit, you can see a voltage drop like this across a fuse. In fact I've seen it before when an integrated control unit goes bad. The voltage drop was not at the fuse but elsewhere in the circuit. In this case it was inside the fuse box although I was not able to prove that in the video other than my fix of replacing the fuse box. The circuitry for the integrated control unit is also in the fuse box which is why you saw the voltage drop across the fuse. Technically the fuse was not causing the drop, the fuse box was. This is not a common occurrence which is why I wanted to make the video.
EricTheCarGuy As far as I can tell, you were probing the fuse's test points - the tip of the fuse terminals accessible through their "butt-end." This bypasses any potential issues with the fuse box, wiring, accessories or whatever else and there should *NEVER* be any significant voltage difference across a good fuse's test terminals since a good fuse should be practically a dead-short. You get no voltage difference across a dead-short unless the current is enormously high.
That's a really interesting puzzle. I enjoyed the video. It would have been interesting to see what voltage potentials you were getting on the fuse poles with the fuse removed (indicating whether the source of the ~10V voltage was through the fuse or another circuit path). It also would have been interesting to read the resistance across the fuse after being removed from fusebox (almost certainly either open or short but useful to know with certainty). I see too many things daily that make no sense to speak with any authority but if it were my guess, I'd guess the discolored traces in the fuse box circuit board were shorting +12V to the load side of the fuse while also imposing enough resistance to cause the voltage drop you were seeing. That resistance might also have been the actual cause of the discoloration due to heat dissipation of the shorted current. That however would only explain observation if the fuse was blown. Hence, those mentioned measurements would have been very interesting to know. Thanks for the video, very valuable for the thought provoking alone.
Moral of the story: If your blower goes out, SELL! :)
Thanks for sharing this Eric,
Can you please share the wiring diagram for Acura Vigor or point to the source where you found it.
Thanks a lot, keep the good and hard work coming!!
heating up and cooling down of the fuse box maybe?
And WHY is that sunroof drain behind the fuse box?? That tube could deteriorate over time and leak into the box causing major issues.
A voltage drop in the fuse means resistance in it. Eric, did you try to simply replace the fuse? Maybe it was just the fuse after all...
It is possible that your new fuse was also bad.. that have happen to me. Its very sneaky :) some of the relays can also be bad. Try swapping those also :)
Looks to me like there is short in the fuse box that fried the fuse and any new fuses that you put in, remember the discoloration. Did you check the continuity of the fuse after removing it? The reason is for the 11 volt reading is probably from some other source, not through the fuse.
Thanks for the video.
How did people survive before electric mirrors and rear window de-foggers?
Very good
Check the fuse first, That 7.5 amp fuse looked suspect. The should be checked with a OHM meter. You might not see it visually Dark Fuse.
Maybe one of the connectors on the back of the fuse box got loose when the dashboard was removed/replaced.
+1 on the fuse being blown (again) and back voltage coming from a stuck relay or something. Eric would you consider checking those relays you swapped.
Hi Eric, sorry to sound like a critic but unless ohm's law is wrong then you had a blown fuse. you may have replaced it with a new one, but it was not a good one. if you go through your jar of fuses and measure each one with an ohmmeter you will find that bad fuse in there. we all get stung by things like that once in a while. thanks for all the helpfull videos.
fiam fiam The readings were the same without the fuse in place. I wish I would have put that in the video.
EricTheCarGuy Understood, but i would be curious to see the readings if you pulled the fuse out now and measured both sides with no fuse in place.
Ok, I don't mean to troll your advice, but shouldn't the first step just be swapping out that one fuse that everything went through? Or did you do that and just not show it?
Feasle101 I did. I wasn't even going to shoot this video until after I replaced the fuse and the same problem existed. Is the notation in the video not showing up where I said I replaced the fuse prior to doing the test? If not, it's also written in the description.
EricTheCarGuy I didn't see the notation in the video. I see it in the description now. Sorry everyone is harping on this now.
Feasle101 No worries. I actually put this on me for not making it more clear in the video. Given that I did my diagnosis prior to installing the fuse box I didn't think to bring the audience up to speed on the work that I had done prior to shooting the video. Lesson learned. I'll be doing things differently in the future. It seems I've learned quite a few lessons this week with my videos. Is it 5 o'clock yet?
I've never seen someone replace a fuse board like that before
Well I go by if it worked before working around area and stopped after job was done got to go back and check all work
I laugh every time you fix something and turn a switch on & off & then cheer! yeah! on off, on off, ON OFF... :) Yep, still works. On e more time: ON, OFF. I think we all do it until the feeling wears off and it's time to move on.
Why the hell would they run a sunroof drain right next to the damn fuse box
Yeah that's really stupid design
Hi Eric, love your videos :)
I have difficulty understanding how you can have a voltage drop across a fuse itself without it being the fuse itself. I see where people have mentioned the contact between the fuse and the fuse box terminals.... but you measured the voltage by probing the tabs on the fuse meaning the voltage dropped between those two points. When you checked voltage with the fuse removed, did you read get the same readings on both sides? Or did you have 12v on one side and nothing on the other (as you would expect)?
There shouldn't be a voltage drop across a fuse, should always be the same unless faulty. After all the fuse is the same on both ends, should read the same if ok.
You wouldn’t happen to know where the AC clutch relay is do you? I’m on the passenger side above the kick panel but can’t locate exactly which relay is for the Ac clutch relay
does the electrical has to be same fuse for instance the brake light has 14 volts and the fuse says ten
I’m assuming going into this there was a check engine light pop up. Did this take care of that?
I would have changed the fuse first!. I've seen fuses that look ok but in fact are bad. Same with light bulbs. In the case of the bulb, the contact at the soldered end was bad. TRhe filament looked perfect. The metal fuses are made of can be affected by metal fatigue, age and vibration...
probably a loose connection...just had to reset the plugs.
The first thing to have done would have been to change the fuse, not change the integrated controller. It's entirely possible that what you were seeing was a back fed voltage.
Hello It will be possible adapt the box fuse of a Honda Accord 1993-1995 in the Acura Vigor
Maybe a bad microprocessor in the ICU but you would have to cut the top of it off to check.
honda-tech.com/tech-misc-15/what-does-icu-integrated-control-unit-do-3123264/
I have a question... I have a 2000 acura Integra ls. My emergency lights work but my signals don't work at all... what can be the problem??
Honda's idea of putting fog lights up near the main lights was really dumb. My buddy had a 91 Integra and every time he turned on those "fog lights" he would get flashed by oncoming traffic. They should have been mounted lower on the bumper cover.
this is really awsome, but i was hoping to see the problem in that fuse box....mybe u can take it to someone who can take a look at it ? 1 person cant know it all :)