Car - 1978 4WD wagon - my baby.

 

Anyone else tend to go through these little suckers kind of quick? Maybe I'm exagerating but I do recall changing one out at Carlisle waaaaaaaaay back when Skip showed up. might have been the GoKart year. Sounds like a long time ago but keep in mind this car doesn't do much mileage per year. And I also recall one or two eaten up since then. And of course last night when I took it to work pretending to be cool.

 

Its almost always the metal end becoming seprated from the glass tube but you don't see it untill you take it out and pull the ends. Got me the first time - took Skip looking it over and going through the whole book procedure before he spotted the culprit.

 

I did go over what grounds to the body I could find without going under the dash. Isn't there another ground to metal under the dash up on the left?

...Its almost always the metal end becoming seprated from the glass tube but you don't see it untill you take it out and pull the ends. ...

 

This Sounds like you're Using Cheapo Bad Quality Fuses... I had almost the Same Issue on my '69 Mercury Comet... even some Fuses got Rusty enough to Fail Transport the Electricity.

 

Then I Found Good Quality ones, Cleaned the Fusible Box and five Years have been passed by since the Last one Blew.

 

Kind Regards.

Oh , ok , thanks.

 

So then which brand name should I be using?

 

I wish I could post a pic of them because they're Subaru issued from the 70's.

If they're Subaru, then They are Good...

But if they're made in the 1970's Decade, their Soldering was made with Rosin core Welding compound, which might loose their adherence in certain rare cases where they're stored in Humid places.

I Know that sounds weird but is a possibility: a Loose internal Wire makes a Hot Spot inside the Fuse, depending on the Wire's Load.

So Basically, I'm Writing that maybe those Fuses are Old...

but if You're Sure that they are not the Culprit, then there are Something Overloading the Circuit.

Kind Regards.

I hear ya , and I do have some other well known brand fuses that I've used in my car too. They're all otherwise ok for being around 10 -32 years old.

Please excuse me if I Wrote too much... I Just tried to do my Best to Help you.

 

OK, forget about the Fuses... Maybe there are a Bad Ground Somewhere as you Wrote first, but could I Ask: if you cannot Find the Ground that goes...

 

...Isn't there another ground to metal under the dash up on the left?

 

...under the Dash, Why don't you put another Grounding Line to the Ground of the Lights Circuit?

 

Kind Regards.

No sweat ... hey check these out.

 

 

 

Amazing , eh? Who'd have thought there were Fuji fuses. They all check out OK.

mine were also blowing at an exhausting rate. It is an issue with the wiring. I think there was even a recall on some brats back in like 1979 or something about it... I recall somebody mentioning it a while back.

 

either way... the wiring gets to hot, thereby increasing resistance which then causes a slow burn of the fuse... Feel the headlight wiring after a long drive... it gets pretty spicy! This is also why it's a very bad call just upping the fuse.

 

I believe the 'factory' fix was to use a jumper wire somewhere to better manage the draw. I never actually found what it was or where it went though...

 

In reality, the original design is quite poor. From what i've seen, no relays or anything were used. Here is what I did.

 

I used the original headlight wiring as 'signal' for a set of relays then hooked the relays up through a proper fuse to the battery. I used these relays to actually turn on the headlights.

 

I didn't explain this that well but it's not complicated... This reduces the current running through the dash, prevents fuses from popping at crappy moments and if you do it right, will be completely removable for 'historicness'.

 

I've done this to 3 cars now including the brat. The actual goal was to run 100W bulbs.

Sounds good , thanks! I have noticed it gets super hot , especially the lower two fuses it seems.

 

Could use brighter bulbs too.

Slightly off topic:

 

Please excuse me if I Wrote too much... I Just tried to do my Best to Help you....Kind Regards.

Loyale 2.7 Turbo: I believe that Moosens was using "I hear ya" as slang (or idiom? what term would be used outside of the USA?) for "I understand and agree" or something else similarly positive. As I interpret it, Moosens was being positive regarding your comments.

 

Back on topic:

 

Does the fuse-material itself still look shiny, end to end, with a clean separation from the cap? Or is the separated end dull and/or looking like the material started to melt and flow?

 

I suspect that there was a general issue with fuses/fuseboxes in 70's Japanese cars. I have seen several where the headlight fuse(es) in particular ran hot enough to melt the fusebox plastic. My 71 510 is/was bad enough that the fuse contacts became free-floating within the box; ended up putting in relays after replacing the fusebox. Before that, I replaced the headlight fuses every 6 months or so, usually replacing the gray, partially melt-flowed fuses before they blew.

.. They're all otherwise ok for being around 10 -32 years old.

I would also go along with the concerns about the age of the fuses.

 

Assuming that they used lead/tin solder to attach the fuse material to the caps, the amalgam of metals tends to change with time. The tin can migrate out of the mixture (often forming "whiskers" of pure tin that can grow long enough to short out electronics.... like has happened in older satellites) leaving the lead even more susceptible to oxidation.

ya so i'm running these on my brat... these are the high/low beams (5.75" H4)

 

 

and these are the highbeams... (5.75" H1)

 

they are not a sealed beam so you can change the bulbs. They are most commonly found on E30 BMW's and such so you might be able to find these or something similar in the j/y. They fit right into the stock spots!

 

They can be bought new at:

 

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

 

 

Then you just need to update the wiring with some decent relays and beefy wiring. I actually am still using the stock brat bulb connects as they wire gauge is pretty good. Just the long run kills it... Maybe I'll try and snap some pics of the wiring setup i have... Mine is very customized though...

 

I am also running 80W(low)/100W(hi) hella bulbs... They are SUPERB!!! If you really want to, there is 100W/120W osram bulbs available but they are about double the price... (locally my hella's are 8 bucks on a good day and the osrams are about 16+... I go through a set about every 3-4months...

Edited November 20, 201015 yr by Zefy

Does the fuse-material itself still look shiny, end to end, with a clean separation from the cap?

 

Yes , that sounds exactly right. Unless you took the fuse out and pulled on the endcap you'd probably never know it was blown.

Yes , that sounds exactly right. Unless you took the fuse out and pulled on the endcap you'd probably never know it was blown.

If there is no sign of overheating/melting at the joint where the fuse material broke from the cap, then it is almost certainly not an overload/overheat situation. More likely a mechanical/metallurgical joint fatigue. Old fuses, fuse contacts vibrating in the fusebox plastic.... something like that.l

Hi Pat. Thanks , I'll spend some time on it ..... ???? soon I hope. But most likely I'll suffer thru the winter with the overload already presented in the form of storage.