Finally having a problem with the Forester after 88k miles...

 

I went thru the toll booth this am, lowered my power window, raised it, then 5 minutes later when I was trying to use my security card at the gate at work, no power windows, then I noticed no power locks as well.

 

Found blown slow blow fuse...SBF-6 and got replacement for $5. ( WTF? )

Locks and all windows worked in autozone lot, went back to work and it's blown again. DOH!!!!!

 

Any subie owners have this problem?

You've got a short somewhere.

 

You need a wiring diagram that shows the entire circuit for SBF-6. You need to remove the fuse for each item that is in the SBF-6 circuit to help narrow down what leg of the circuit the short is in. From there, you'll just need to try and track down where the short is.

 

You may want to pickup a circuit breaker with the same amperage rating as the slow blow fuse to rig up, so you can just reset the circuit breaker while you're testing, rather then having to replace the fuse every time at $5 a pop.

Is it a fuse or relay. Reason I ask is, you can buy a box of assorted fuses for $5 at harbor freight.

It's a square pink 30 amp slow-blow fuse in the hood fuse box...never saw one before...$5 what a scam....what's wrong with bus fuses and breakers???

 

Where would I find a 30 amp 12v dc breaker to troubleshoot with?

 

It's very cold and get's dark early, so I pretty much have to frig with it in the lot at work. I'll check out the manual tonight...I already know that one slow blow at least powers the windows and door locks...so right thereit could be 1 of 4 window motors or solenoids that lock the doors.

 

I'm temped to put a 40 amp slow blow in there or a jumper and see what's cookin'...

Check and see if your driver door wires are getting pinched between the door and pillar.

SBF-6 leaves the underhood box as 2 wires, then goes thru a firewall grommet.

 

One wire goes to the under dash fusebox and feed fuse #3, 15A for the Keyless entry module. I would expect this 15A fuse to blow if the keyless entry module had a problem.

 

The other wire goes up behind the instrument cluster to a Self Resetting 25A circuit breaker. It's output feed the power points of the Window Relay just aove the drivers left kick panel. The output of this goes to the MAIN window switch in the drivers door.

If it were the relay,( somehow internally shorting to ground ) the Self resetting circuit breaker would trip, then reset. If it were in the wire or Main Switch in the door, I would expect the Self resetting Breaker to trip OR destroy the relay points ( usually only rated for 30A ).

 

Unless that 25A self resetting circuit breaker is defective, I would look for a pinched or exposed wire from the under hood fuse box, to where it goes thru the firewall.

Thanks guys!

 

It's snowing hard right now but I'll check the wires under the fuse block to firewall and in the door by the hinge soon. I plan make an in-line fuse holder with crimped connectors to test with.

 

Thanks for the wiring description. Good thing, as I looked in my haynes manual wiring diagram and there doesn't seem to be any sbf-6 on it....

Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to post the results.

 

What I ended up doing was removing the washer tank and then removed the screws holding the Fuse box to the fender then I was able to remove all the molex connectors from the bottom of the fbox and sort of unkinked and straightened up all the wires to the connectors...I couldn't really tell exactly which connector went to sb-6....but when I put it all back together and installed my new fuse it worked and has been working fine for weeks.

 

I eliminated the rip-off 30 amp slow blow, by replacing it with an in line fuse holder and 2 crimped on tab connectors. It fit under the FB cover nicely.

Thanks for the follow-up Sailhard. Glad to see you sailing well again. It sounds like there was a problem in the area you moved things around.

wrap the fuse legs with aluminum foil. It won't blow again!

I dont get the sarcasm or truth in that....what happens?

....drama queen.

 

But seriously it could be worth investigating a bit more when the weather hots up. There has to be a reason they slapped a SBF on there instead of your average blade fuse.

That was a great response Skip. I got a good chuckle out of that. I'm glad I wasn't drinking something as I saw that. It wouldn't have been pretty.

Well, it started intermittently ( every few days) blowing the inline fuse again. 2 boxes of fuses later I switched to a 30A slow blow 3 days ago...It never blew, but once the windows stoped working and there were 2 relay clicks every few seconds for a few minutes, and then the clicking stopped and eveything worked again.

 

Today I got home and the the windows/locks had stopped working again, I figured the fuse had blown but it had not. BUT with the ignition off there was a sight buzz from under the left side of the dash when I hit the power lock switch. I tracke the buzz down to a relay(7) on the far left side of the das, above the fusebox door. I assume this is the relay/circuit breaker that cougar described...I'm going to try and replace it...anybody know the part number??? Or better yet have a spare?

 

I just reread cougars post...it looks like it's the window relay that was buzzing..where the heck is the power window breaker?

It may be in the power distribution panel under the hood.

 

The clicking you heard may have really been the circuit breaker cutting in and out. The short may now have burned open. Something would not be working if that is the case.

I am having the same exact issue with this. Did you ever find the main issue 

SBF 50amp no. 6 keeps blowing when I try to start the car