help with my beater car. No heat, electrical problem

DarkProphet

Founding Member
Aug 19, 2002
391
0
0
Quakertown, PA
Hey guys, I have an 88 olds cutlass ciera for a beater. It was ok, until it decided to not have heat anymore. It blows the fuse (25amp) as soon as one is put in, and the key is turned to "on". Here a link to the wiring diagram:
http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d800f4040.gif
I dont understand why it blows the fuse right away, even if its all turned off. I disconnected the wiring harnesses out of the back of the heater switch panel so that I was sure that the switch itself wasnt bad, but it still blows the fuse. The only thing I can see from the diagram is that it would have to be the wire comming from the fuse to the switch panel, is this thinking right? I checked that wire and it looks good. Can anyone see where else the problem could be? Its really cold out, and I would appreciate it if someone could help me find my problem as driving this car sucks now. Thanks in advance.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


So (per the diagram) you were able to disconnect the brown wire going into the HVAC controls? I think so, but wanted to confirm that's the one you checked. I'd have done this myself.

Absent seeing an obvious issue, I'd almost run a jumper wire. Put it in the hot-side of the fuse box slot, with a 25 amp fuse in the run of jumper wire (that fuse is imperative!). Run the jumper to where the brown wire goes into the heater panel and see what happens. If it still blows the fuse before you make the connection at the HVAC side, the issue is the feed to the OEM fuse itself (in the fusebox). If it blows after you connect to the HVAC side, there's a short down stream (I think you already eliminated this possibility).
Random thoughts.
Good luck.