I have a 96 Dakota 2.5L 2wd manual. Its been running good all year until this past week. It just suddenly up and keeps having a problem blowing the fusible link in the power distribution center to the A/C Clutch & Radiator Fan. When i started out i thought my starter went on me, i was having long starts, so i replaced it with a brand new one and it started right up and had no problems. Then it blew again later on after I had just made it to a store. So i replaced the relay for the A/C clutch, and ended up blowing another fuse. We disconnected the A/C electrically and ran a serpentine belt for a non a/c engine. Worked for a while then blew again. I just now replaced the radiator's electric fan and still blew another one. I'm at my wits end of figuring this one out. I have no clue what it may be. I would greatly appreciate any help that can be given. Thanks for all attempts, and comments.

 

Sounds like a short in the system somewhere to me. Try checking the various parts with a meter to make sure something isn't grounding out and blowing the link

 

ok, where would you start checking, not really sure on where to start at. Inside the cab or in the engine compartment.

 

Well I've looked at most of the wiring in the engine compartment as far as the starter is concerned. One thing i noticed when looking in the owners manual and the schematic diagrams from my Haynes book on my truck was that the fusible link that keeps blowing actually is for three parts, the A/C Clutch, radiator fan relay, & starter. The starter works fine, there are no problems with it, so the starter is ruled out. The relay is brand new as well, the only thing i can think of is the ignition switch itself. The only problem with that is the ignition switch has a fusible link of its own, but i'm wondering if it is wired for the accessories & on position and not for the starting portion. Thats the only time the starters fusible link blows. Just was curious if anyone else thinks this is possible or to far fetched.... the ignition switch has been giving me some fits when i would try to roll it back to the accessories position. It wouldn't roll back sometimes.

 

Check to see that you have the proper amperage fuses where they belong.

 

Tell us what the number/letter is of the fuse you are blowing.



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360 DakotaPwr - All fuses have the proper amperage. That was the first thing I checked. Chump - its B, the 30 Amp fusible link for the A/C Clutch, Radiator Fan Relay, & Starter. My dakota is a 96 2wd, 2.5L inline 4 cyclinder. It has A/C but is unhooked. It was unhooked in the process of trying to find the problem.

 

Sounds like you have a wire that is rubbing somewhere and shorting out or corrosion/high resistence. I'll look through my wiring diagrams and see what we can come up with. My guess would certainly be the cooling fan circuit. I have heard of some strange wire terminal problems on the bottom side of the PDC but I don't work on these for a living. I'm just a backyard mechanic with alot of experience.

 

It's not the ignition switch as it's power is fused seperately both in and out of the switch. The wiring in question should all be under the hood. Try this for now, when the engine gets warm and the cooling fan kicks on, wiggle (wiggle test) the wiring harnesses near the PDC under the hood and the harness that goes to the cooling fan and see if you can get the fuse to blow. I would also disconnect the battery and loosen the PDC to try to get a look at the wiring and terminals that go up to the relays. I may have to email you some better wiring diagrams of the circuit and you might have to start disconnecting wires at the PDC relay terminals to isolate the power circuits. Even if you pull the relays or disconnect some electrical parts, you still have power in some areas of the circuits and if they short to ground the fuse will blow. Do you know if it does this at any particlar time, like when the fan turns on or something else?
Also, just to be my eyes, pull the starter relay and see if there is any obvious problem with it or it's terminals. This is powered by Fuse B also. Can also swap that relay with an identical relay in the PDC and see if the problem changes?

 

Well I pulled the ignition switch and did a continuity test on it. I found that only one of the terminals actually gave me a reading at all. The other thing is when i first switched around a couple of relays it was the radiator fan relay and the a/c clutch relay. Thats when it worked fine for a couple of days then quit. I'm gonna try switching the a/c clutch relay with the starter relay and try that. I'll get back to you tomorrow and let ya know what happens.