Charging System Troubleshooting--Blown Ignition Light Fuse?

[ACHiPo]

Originally Posted by patrickt

The radiator fan circuit does not run through the ignition switch. That's so the fans can come on when they need to (usually through the thermostatic switch in the lower radiator hose) even if the ignition is turned off. That is really strange that it would come on with the ignition switch. Could you have hit something? Or pulled something loose?

Getting to that voltage stabilizer and getting it out were very difficult. I may very well have hit something. The question is what and how do I fix it.

Gonna take a break and regain my composure. Will hit it again early tomorrow morning. Whatever troubleshooting suggestions you have I will greatly appreciate.

I'm thinking that figuring out the fan thing will be first as I suspect I did something fishing around. Next I think trying Bob's configuration could be good, although it seems I need to figure out and fix why fuse 3 (and 4) fails.

Maybe I'll try out my short finder.

[patrickt]

I would:

1) Put the two wires back on the VS.

2) Look around as best you can for anything that you hit that, maybe, would be around the manual fan switch. I'm actually having trouble conceptualizing how that fan could even come on by just turning on the ignition switch.

3) Implement Bob's wiring change that eliminates the need for the ignition light.

4) Leave Fuse #3 out of the fuse box. We'll tackle that short last.

5) Start the car, see if you're charging properly (the ignition light is disconnected so don't worry about that), and see if the fan comes on or stays off.