# 10A fuse blowing, battery draining, no gauges



## repair42 (Mar 4, 2007)

My son bought a 94 altima, the 10A fuse labeled "Meter" or "Meters" in the fuse box under the dash left of steering column keeps popping. When we replace the fuse the battery is charging at around 14V, when the fuse is blown it drains the battery and the car eventually dies out. I would like to know what all is contained in this circuit so I can start to help him, I've seen some things about transmission switch, wires shorting on the transmission itself from the shifter. I really would like to hear there is a quick fix, but if not just a hint or two of what is on that circuit. Thanks.


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

*Meter Fuse*

I have the same problem with my 94 GLE. We have learned to carry these fuses. Have you found anything?


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## yungen2003 (Oct 18, 2007)

Sorry to bring back a dead thread but. I have a 95 Altima SE 2.4 DOHC. Same thing its a 10a fuse labled meters popping constantly have noticed it mainly happens when the car is in park tho. Tested a 20 Amp fuse in it same thing. and it also happens mostly when the car is starting up to. the car is in good running condition other then that. and at the moment i don't have a haynes on me. but if anyone can point me to a place to start trouble shooting it would be very much appreciated. just rewired alot of the electrical system already and it was doing this before hand. also the fact that the battery dies if i run the car with the fuse popped seems to make me think the alternator in some way or another runs through this fuse if so what could i do to try and by pass this. the orginal owner of the car from whom i purchased the car from said this didnt start happending untill he replaced the alternator. the alternator is brand new from a local nissan dealership. and the car seems to charge at 14-15 volts so it seems fine but i konw if i park the car and give it a little throttle i can almost guarantee the fuse will pop. so any recommendations where i can start trouble shooting this. im 19 and dont have to much cash to drop. but i do have mechanic and electrical skills and acess to about any tool i need  step dads a mechanic. but wanted me to find out where to start before i bumbed tools


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## Altima SSS (Oct 10, 2007)

If the battery charging voltage is 14.0 ~ 14.5 volts when the engine is running then the alternator and voltage regulator is working fine.

Since other electrical circuits don't blow fuses, it's obviously an intermittent electrical short circuit happening somewhere. To trouble-shoot, look for bare wires associated with that circuit. Also check for shorts to ground on the hot (+) side of the circuit with an ohm meter when there is no power on the circuit. Electrical problems are not always easy to trouble-shoot and find.


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## yungen2003 (Oct 18, 2007)

*Wires*

Do you happen to know where the wiring harness is located in the car for the meter fuse? if its easy access i can take a look at it tommorow before i head to my probatoin meeting.


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## jserrano (Oct 27, 2004)

Remove all the electrical plugs from the backside of the instrument cluster and test whether the meter fuse blows doing the test you've described.


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

I believe my Haynes manual shows Ignition Relay 1 on this brown wire as well. Any chance a faulty relay could cause the meter fuse to blow. 

Ray


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## Altima SSS (Oct 10, 2007)

rrichard7 said:


> I believe my Haynes manual shows Ignition Relay 1 on this brown wire as well. Any chance a faulty relay could cause the meter fuse to blow.
> 
> Ray


I say yes, it's possible. Any electrical component can have the potential to short circuit or short to ground. Is there another relay like it you can swap to test?


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

There is "ignition relay 2" and the accessory relay. Unfortunately, I don't know what they do. Haynes doesn't say much. 

Ray


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## waingro909 (Oct 24, 2007)

jserrano has the best tip....go with process of elimination from there.


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

Absolutely! This seems like a fairly common problem. Please post your findings. In my case, the last fuse survived 4 weeks. Until it blows more frequently, the disconnect method could take a long time. That coupled with my daughter has the car at school (20 miles away) makes the diagnosis more difficult.

My car is a survivor. It sat in a garage for 6 years. It has been on the road for 18 months since its long rest. Current mileage is under 40K. This problem may be more age than use.

Ray


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## Altima SSS (Oct 10, 2007)

rrichard7 said:


> My car is a survivor. It sat in a garage for 6 years. It has been on the road for 18 months since its long rest. Current mileage is under 40K. This problem may be more age than use.
> 
> Ray


Might be more rodent related ... as mice like to chew on wires on cars in long storage. A few bare wires from mice chewing on the insulation can cause all kinds of problems.


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

Good point! They had a real cozy bed in the air box. No kidding. I'm glad I didn't try to start the car (first time) without looking in the air box. 

Ray


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

Taking it to the shop tomorrow.


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## desertaxguy (Nov 6, 2006)

*Adding clues to the 10a fuse mystery*

My 93 Altima is blowing that meter fuse too. Here's what I've figured out with mine. I can wiggle the wires running down the left side of the motor and the fuse won't blow until I go over a bump. I checked most of the wire for obvious chaffing or breaks and due to the stupid black conduit cover its pretty hard to check thoroughly. I looked where the wires are coming close to touching the trans case, the engine block or any other place it can ground out and blow.

Then I decided to zip tie the bundle upward to keep it from laying across the trans case. This caused the other problem of some "drain" that made the car barely run (Lack of power, misfireing, stalling).. so I took off the zip tie and got about 1,000 miles before the wires must have gone back to the old position of shorting. Now its back to blowing every time you move the car. But, by putting in a fuse at least you get the transmission to shift to overdrive. 

I'm sick of this..But,I'm not throwing away a good car over a $2 part.


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

Did the fuse stop blowing when the wires across the trans. were tied up?

Ray


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## desertaxguy (Nov 6, 2006)

Moving the wires seemed to bring on some new state of sputtering and no power like it was grounding something, but not shorting out. I could never drive too far like that. My last, best idea is that the wires leading up from the trans case to the Mass air flow sensor and the power transistor are grounding out some way. Thats the only break in the insulation I could find so far, and when I move the bottom section it has some effect on the upper bit of it by the air intake. Plus, that relates to the clue that when you go over a bump the thing blows because thats the only bit of wires that passes over the engine to the body side where a change in the suspension could pass to the harness. I don't know yet. I have to look more this weekend.


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## rrichard7 (Sep 14, 2006)

I have read that the harness passes behind the drivers side inner fender. I think that is my next look. Please post if you find a solution.

Good Luck
Ray


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