<VV> Blowing fuses

[Jim Becker]

I don't believe any power through that fuse reaches the turn switch unless 
your foot is on the brake.  So that switch is an unlikely source of the 
problem.  At this point, I'd say the most likely source is a spot that was 
grounding out in the clock wire.  When you moved it to unplug/plug you may 
have moved the wire away from whatever it was contacting.  You may never see 
the problem again.  (It could also be one of the other wires fed through 
that fuse got moved while working on the clock wire.)

Jim Becker

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kent Goddard via VirtualVairs
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2020 6:39 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re:  Blowing fuses

Thanks all for the comments and sage advice.  Strangely the problem has 
disappeared, at least for now.  Saturday I took the car out of winter 
storage, it had a blown fuse and blew 2 fuses immediately upon installation. 
Had to drive home at night with no tail/brake lights (but no ticket!).

Sunday I disconnected the clock by pulling the pin from wiring harness 
connector. Fuse held so I figured that must be the shorted circuit. Plugged 
the clock back in expecting fuse to blow but it didn't and clock worked 
fine. Opened the door so floor level courtesy lights were on (vert), opened 
glove box, turned on tail lights, stepped on brake, put into reverse and 
actuated turn signals all at same time to fully load the fuse - it held 
fine.  Drove the car to see if vibration would move something around and 
reestablish the short - nope, fuse held.

The courtesy bulbs are single contact #89 with cylindrical glass. You have 
to be careful when you pull the socket out of the holder because if the top 
rim of the bulb (at base of glass) touches the holder it will short. 
Otherwise they work fine.  I've ordered the correct #631 replacement bulbs 
to see if the shape of the globe will eliminate the 'installation risk'. 
BTW, the '66 wiring diagram shows power to the center contact which is 
incorrect on my car - power is on the shell side and ground (white wire) is 
on the center contact.

No recent work done on the car to cause the problem. No pet mice over the 
winter. The only thing that acts funky in this circuit is the turn signal 
switch which is a little 'limp' engaging and sometimes doesn't cancel when 
the steering wheel straightens.  Does anyone think this could be a probable 
cause for what is apparently an intermittent issue?

Apologies for being long winded.  ;-)

Kent G
St. Louis, MO

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