AU fairlane keeps blowing the engine fuse

falcondave69 · 31-12-2010, 12:57 AM

hi there. my auntie's AU fairlane broke down this afternoon so i went to try and help her out. well she and my uncle were just driving down the road and all of a sudden the car just died. so they pulled over to check the car and found the 30A engine fuse under the bonnet was blow, so they had a 40A fuse for a spare and they put that in and drove about 100mtrs down the road and the car died again. when i arrived i brought a spare 40A fuse with me and tried that but as soon as she turned the motor over the fuse just glowed red very quickly then blew again. anyway she had to get it towed home and i told her i would come and have a look tomorrow, so does anyone know what it could be that's causing this fuse to start blowing all the time? what do i check....Thanks Dave.

saber · 31-12-2010, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by falcondave69

hi there. my auntie's AU fairlane broke down this afternoon so i went to try and help her out. well she and my uncle were just driving down the road and all of a sudden the car just died. so they pulled over to check the car and found the 30A engine fuse under the bonnet was blow, so they had a 40A fuse for a spare and they put that in and drove about 100mtrs down the road and the car died again. when i arrived i brought a spare 40A fuse with me and tried that but as soon as she turned the motor over the fuse just glowed red very quickly then blew again. anyway she had to get it towed home and i told her i would come and have a look tomorrow, so does anyone know what it could be that's causing this fuse to start blowing all the time? what do i check....Thanks Dave.

Sounds like you've got a short to earth somewhere in the car. Could be caused by some old wire touching the body. I've got no idea where to start, maybe at the battery? Look at all the wires you find and look to see if the insulation has broken down, and could be making a potential short to earth.

dave289 · 31-12-2010, 08:10 AM

Ask them if they have had any work done recently on the car .If they have it might have caused the problem and give you some idea where to look . if not have a basic look around yourself to see if you can see anything out of the ordinary or any wire(s) exposed. If not you may need to go to an auto electrician so they can find where the short is. good luck, let us know how you go.

UU TS50 · 31-12-2010, 10:03 AM

We had this fuse blow a few times on my missus futura and i found a wiring diagram on the net that said the fuse was also for the fuel pump. The car eventually stopped blowing but as the car is duel fuel she didnt notice that the car would not run on fuel anymore and i could not hear the pump working on start up.
The car went in for a new altinator so i got them to do the pump at the same time and it turned out that she had no fuel in the tank and the pump housing litterally melted as the pump got so hot and as it turns out she was lucky there was no fuel in the tank that could have ignited.

ratter · 31-12-2010, 10:33 AM

Fuel pump sounds like the most likely cause of the problem, as they are about to die they can require excess current to operate which will blow the fuse.

falcondave69 · 31-12-2010, 12:21 PM

thanks guys will have a look at all the wires under the bonnet then i'll check out the fuel pump. Oh by the way its duel fuel and was on gas when it blew.....Dave.

GK · 31-12-2010, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by falcondave69

thanks guys will have a look at all the wires under the bonnet then i'll check out the fuel pump. Oh by the way its duel fuel and was on gas when it blew.....Dave.

Good sleuthing guys!

Ask them if they have run the car on petrol lately! If this was the problem (i.e. being out of petrol and the pump throwing a fit), I guess it must have just died (ran out of petrol), as dual fuel systems start on LPG.

At least you have a few good starting points now.

I guess that's another reason why Ford say to keep at least 1/4 a tank of petrol going.

All the best with it.

GK

ratter · 31-12-2010, 05:20 PM

most dual fuel systems still have the fuel pump operating even while on gas.

AMB · 01-01-2011, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratter

most dual fuel systems still have the fuel pump operating even while on gas.

Yeh I think its the easiest way for them to fit it. The lpg system in my AU is directly powered from the fuel pump power supply wire (thick y/b wire iir).

falcondave69 · 01-01-2011, 01:20 PM

ok just a quick update. They had the RAA (RACV) etc out and they disconnected the fuel pump and the fuse blew again ruling the pump out. The man from RAA said it could possibly be the BCM causing the short so my aunty bought a second hand one today and i'll try that when i go there after, i didn't think the BCM would cause this but will give it a try......

falcondave69 · 01-01-2011, 04:48 PM

just got back from auntie's house and had a good look at all the wires under the bonnet and inside the car and they all looked ok. i didn't end up changing there BCM i just had a muck around with the wires and then put another 30 amp fuse back in, turned ignition to ACC and once again it blew. I think there going to get an auto electrician out to have a look now.....

falcondave69 · 06-01-2011, 11:45 PM

0k so now the cars fixed... they ended up having an auto electrician coming over to there house and he found the problem within the hr. It was the fuel pump power wire shorting out somewhere between the B pillar and the fuel pump, so the auto electrician just run a new wire from there to the pump and no problems so far....

XRGhia · 07-01-2011, 12:26 AM

sweet...

also i have a relay on both the EF and the AU that turns the fuel pump on or off depending on wether its switched over to gas or not...

Starts on petrol
rev to 1600rpm, then it changes to gas
fuel pump turns off via relay
press button on dash to run the car on fuel, relay turns back on and fuel pump is then powered..

its a good idea to put one in and set it up like that so that your fuel pump doesn't burn out...

twins wagon · 29-09-2023, 02:09 PM

hi thats the best idea ive herd of can u by any chance supply a copy or sketch wiring for this please, or where i can find a diagram for it, thank you

**Uncle_Ken** · 30-09-2023, 05:23 PM

Mate it was posted in 2011. Try the Tech section

twins wagon · 30-09-2023, 07:43 PM

thanks for letting me know that i didn't actually realize im still trying to work all this stuff out thanks again