Hi everyone,
the car is a 1998 RX Liberty and it recently blew the fusible link (1.25mm black) when I was moving the car out of very heavy rain into the garage.
It was under a shade sale that was funneling a lot of rainwater onto the driver's side of the windscreen.
Just before it blew, I noticed the charging voltage, (I have a digital meter plugged into the lighter socket), going higher and higher till it hit 19 volts, the wipers turned themselves on at huge speed ...then poof!
I have now named the car "Christine". I had been warming the car up, operating the wipers, the radio, (both off at the time of the shut-down) and the A/C which was not behaving normally - the demister turned ITSELF on when I used the 'Auto' on button.
I measured 10 ohm resistance on the load side of the FL, and by removing fuses, I eliminated it down to the Clock/Room fuse, and a 45 amp fuse labelled SBF No.3 - one of the fans I think
Removing both fuses, one at a time, eliminated the 10 ohm reading. I have checked all the other fuses, including the internal fuses (driver's side), and found 2 blown - Meter SRS lamp and Cruise/ABS.
Another clue is that two weeks previously, I had replaced the alternator with a Bosch, (remanufactured in Japan), because the previous one had started to switch off the main output to the battery when the motor warmed up.
It would charge perfectly until temp was up, then the voltage would climb to about 15 and then drop down to the battery voltage. I assumed that the internal regulator couldn't handle the heat any more.
It was 5 years old and a no-name rebuild that I bought from an online auto electrical store. I'm now thinking that my diagnosis was incorrect and maybe the ECU was at fault.
I disconnected the ECU and the 10 ohm reading was still there. The carpets were dry on the passenger side where the ECU is and the driver's side at the front.
I live in FNQ surrounded by bush, so rats could be gnawing on the wires, but the looms are quite well protected.
I have bought a new fusible link, but I'm not game enough to install it without knowing why the original one blew. A 10 ohm load is only 1.2 amps at 12 volts but would be 1.9 amps at 19 volts.
Apparently my FL is rated at 80 amps - hard to believe with such a low gauge wire.
I'm stumped now, so would be grateful for any suggestions. The only thing I haven't done is pull the internal fuse box off the kick-panel - looks like quite a mission.
Sorry this is so long, but I thought the more info - the better.
Cheers
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