98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

Hello all,
Was wondering if any had this experience. When starting a 98 Stratus. I keep blowing underhood fuse #8 ... it is labeled IGN/FUEL/STARTER ... in the owners manual it says starter solenoid. It seems to be fine until i try and turn over the car and then the fuse blows. Like the Starting circuit is drawing too much amperage. When the fuse blows it shuts off most of the interior accessories also. The car does have 175000 on it so a starter replacement wouldnt be out of the question. My question is has others seen this problem and solved it with the solenoid, starter, both?


Thanks for any help

Tim Minton

RE: 98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

Hi Tim, I was wondering if you ever found out what the problem was?, My 95 Stratus is doing the same thing. Blowing the #8 when I hit the key to start it. Could use and help you can give me. Thanks, Amitola

RE: 98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

i have the same problem i turn the key, then the fuse blows and nothing happens not starting at all.
do you have any solutions for that issue?

greets george

RE: 98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

If the starter solenoid is hanging up mechanically, it will tend to draw excess current. The starter itself could be drawing too much current if its bearings are going bad (dragging).

(You know not to substitute a larger fuse. I once repaired a stereo receiver whose owners had responded to a frequently blowing 3.2A fuse by replacing it with a 30A fuse. The unit's $40 (1970 prices) power transformer became the fuse. :) )

RE: 98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

i have the same problem with my 96. i have done alot or work on it and got basicly nothing. i have a 30amp in it now hoping that whatever the problem is it will take too much power and fry it making it easyer to lokate the problem. i put a test lamp in the fuse and it will light up but still no start (solinoide clicks but no armatuer movment) what i did was i ended up getting a used starter from a junk yard becase i was stranded at school and only had $30. i ended up changing it in the parking lot and when i got done it started first time. it worked for about a month and a half before it blew the 20A fuse so i went back to using a 30A. the wird thing is that it wont blow the fuse wight away the solinoid will just click. I tryed the trick with grounding out the starter with a screwdriver (DONT DO THAT IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU DOING, YOU CAN FRY YOUR CARS COMPUTER OR BATTERY) and it still just clicked. i found that beeting the $#it out of the starter with a tork wrence works well. what im going to do is just get a new starter with a 1 year warinty from AutoZone and replayes it whenever it goes out. i dont know whats wrong the solinoid ot the starter becase the armatcher never moves. if you can let us know from our info please help. maby someone ASE knows whats going on

RE: 98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

Had the same problem with 99 with 2.4. It was the solenoid on the starter. The relay and starter are sold as one unit. Doing some talking at the dealer and found out it was a common problem. Not hard job, just need a long extension for one of the bolts. The other bolt took a while to find it on is located on the transaxle side. The Haynes manual # 25015 has a great illustration. You will need to remove some of the plastic air intake assembly to reach it.

Mikeamus

RE: 98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

sounds like it's time to change the starter. let us know the deal, good luck.

RE: 98 Stratus - underhood Fuse #8 Blowing
 

I am experiencing the same problem with the #8 fuse blowing on my 99 Dodge Stratus. Did changing the starter fix your problem? Please let me know as soon as possible.

Cleaning the connector with the brown wire at the starter motor solenoid fixed my "blown fuse #8" problem.
My Stratus leaks oil and there was a large amound of dried oil inside the connector so I sprayed some degreasing solution in it and that fixed my problem.

This was before I replaced the starter motor/solenoid unit.
I did this first because the fuse did not blow when I removed this connector. I was surprised the fuse still blew with the new unit installed.

I forgot to mention that, to reduce the chance of this connector being contaminated with oil in the future, I packed the connector with dielectric grease after cleaning it.

Also, if you need to remove the starter motor, you may have a hard time finding the bottom mounting bolt for the starter motor. It is not at all visible. It's above the front engine mount. You'll have to feel around for it.

Hope this all helps someone.