Two loose fuses in the fuse box

so, today my blower motor wasn't working
I popped the fuse panel and found that both the blower motor fuse and the ext lamp fuses were under powered at only 10amp instead of 20. They were also being used as a power tap for something. I removed the taps and now the fuse sockets are loose and won't hold a fuse...
is there any way to repair the spring in these two fuse locations?
I'm using the 20A fuse from the heated seats (I don't think I have heated seats... I never saw a button for them) and just jamming them in there with the power tap to keep it in one piece...

any suggestions on how to repair these two sockets?

take a pair of side cutters and gently put a twist in the fuse blades,.

Nick

phantom 309 wrote:

take a pair of side cutters and gently put a twist in the fuse blades,.

Nick

oh, in the fuse itself? that's smart... I would have never thought of that.

that worked. thanks. any suggestions on how to fix the actual socket in the future? It almost looks like there's no second socket on that blower motor... but it seems to be working.
also, the second fuse I noticed that was loose was a blank fuse location... so I guess that one is fine.
I also noticed that like 5 of the fuses weren't the right amperage, so I bought a fuse kit and replaced them with the correct ones.
The only thing I had a question on were the two 15A SEO fuses... what are those for? they weren't populated.

SEO is for special equipment option. Police cars.

boojum wrote:

SEO is for special equipment option. Police cars.

that's what I thought.

I take that back. It didn't work. There's no top pin in the socket. It must have been jumped with that wire.
I need to find out what's going on here. Is the top pin positive or ground?

See if this helps. Click on wiring diagrams
You'll probably need to use the impala diagram (confirm with your fuse box)
Power distribution 1 thru 4
http://ss.lencolab.com/

Might be time to call up the old family mechanic.

so, I got the manuals, I didn't see anything about removing the fuse box for checking the pins...
the only reference to it is in book 1, section 8C2

The fuse block is on a galvy bracket secured by 3 bolts
When you pop the cover you'll probably see the remains of some open cell foam against the firewall
There are 2 screws there, 1 under the foam at the bottom of the bracket & 1 up under the dash pad just inside the downward bend of the pad.
(you could get this without removing the pad but it would be easier with it out)
The 3rd bolt requires the lower dash be removed. That screw is beside the parking brake handle goes thru the lower dash support & into the bracket.
What I DONT know is if there's enough cable bundle slack there to rotate the block & bracket out so you can access the backside.
Let us know when you get there...

someone mentioned being able to get to it from the inside of the dash?
I'm wondering if I can just jump the stupid thing using an inline 20A Fuse...

You could half-ass it like I did when my head lights died for no apparent reason. The fuse wasn't getting power so I cut a short length of wire and jumped power from a near by fuse into the one for the head lights. Its not ideal, but gets the job done.

BTW, my blower stopped working on my 9C1 this morning, our cars must think alike!

I was thinking that might be what the person did here... but without knowing what these two wires are actually for, it's hard to say.

ugh, the wires must have come loose again. No fan again tonight...

chapel wrote:

ugh, the wires must have come loose again. No fan again tonight...

I'd wire it to a switch so you know its on, or swap to Mech. fans

the problem is I have NO idea how any of this is wired, because of the way it's jumped... I'm not even sure how these wires are tied in

The HVAC controls turned off this morning and then came back on a few seconds later. I tried wiggling those connectors and the fan is still dead. I'm lost on this one.

and now it's working again... and I didn't make any changes
I wonder if the wet weather is doing something?

You have 2 choices.
1) Get under the dash & figure it out
2) Move to Seattle

I'm hoping to get some time next week to look at it... the sporadicness of it is already confusing to me... it doesn't make sense.

Thats indicative of a loose /broken/corroded electrical connection
REALLY tough to internet diagnose
Time is usually the problem with me too

95brmw wrote:

BTW, my blower stopped working on my 9C1 this morning, our cars must think alike!

You sure your car hasn't been at my house lately?

sdstick wrote:

Thats indicative of a loose /broken/corroded electrical connection
REALLY tough to internet diagnose
Time is usually the problem with me too

Did it again yesterday. Froze my ass off and had to towel the window the whole way home.
It worked on the ride in, parked, came back and no blower.

Hope to get a look at it. Paul said it did this to him once and he just fonzied the dash

chapel wrote:

sdstick wrote:

Thats indicative of a loose /broken/corroded electrical connection
REALLY tough to internet diagnose
Time is usually the problem with me too

Did it again yesterday. Froze my ass off and had to towel the window the whole way home.
It worked on the ride in, parked, came back and no blower.

Hope to get a look at it. Paul said it did this to him once and he just fonzied the dash

check and trace all of the wires leading to the blower motor, one may be broken, it may be the fuse issue. They (blower motors) aren't too expensive, grab the cheapie from AZ and see how that works. Try a resistor first. If it isn't popping a fuse nothing would be shorting so it might be some sort of loose connection some place.

The car did sit for a little while, the thread might be a page or two back, from when Paul first got that wagon.