hey everyone. i have an '05 RX8. i got the car about 10 months ago and havent had any problems with it until now. i will tell u whats wrong and if anyone had this problem also please let me know cuz i dont know what to do.

here is the problem....
i started my car and it started perfectly like always. then i look at my gauges and see that my check engine light is on. i pull over again and look at my radio and thats not working either. no electrical components work on the inside of the car. i get home real quick and check fuses. and the ROOM FUSE is blown. i was like ok this is the problem. i put in new fuse and that blows also..... there is a short happening somewhere and have no idea where. i took out my radio and is still blowing the fuse. when i shut the car off my gauges stop in the place they were. and when i turn the key to the on position all gauges rest themselves and go back to normal.

if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. i would really appreciate any help. thank you to anyone in advance.

 

what mods do you have that tap into the electrical system ?

 

the only thing i have is the metra kit and a kenwood radio. but everything is disconected and still blowing the fuse

 

You short a wire somewhere.

check the cigarette light lines. Its easy to get a cut around that area.

 

the cigarette light lines r all good and still working. the one in front and in the middle still work. so thats not it. i will be connecting to a scan tool later today. the check engine light is on so i hope that will tell me whats wrong. i will keep everyone updated on what the promlem is.

 

ok so i pluged in the scan tool. the is no comunication it the comp on the car. there is no power going to there. i am at a stand still. have no idea what to do. please if anyone knows anything please help.

 

I think broken wires for the lights in your sun visors can also blow the room fuse. I THINK they are on the room fuse.

 

most common room fuse problem is the visor like socket7 said. If your visor isnt broken tho i doubt thats the problem.

The reason you have no connection at the OBD port is because the room fuse provides power to the OBD connector, your CEL is most likely saying something to the effect of failure at comm. port.

The only way to find a short is with a multimeter realistically. Tracing shorts sucks.

My first guess would definitely be in the wiring of your radio/metra kit. Even with it unplugged a short in the wiring won't be effected, it'll still be shorting plugged in or not. Plus its the only mod you did, the stock wiring doesn't tend to have these problems when left alone.

kevin.

 

I saw an excellent device for tracing shorts when I had an issue a while back .

It was basically a row of lights on a board . You connect the two leads from the lights to either side of the fuse that keeps blowing . If it is a constant short the lights will come on all the time - if it is intermittant they only come on when the short occurs .
Now you go around the car fiddling with stuff trying to get the lights to either come on or go off .
In this way you can track down the problem very quickly - and you don't keep blowing fuses doing it ....

 

yea they actually have circuit breakers you can plug into fuse spots which have long wires attached to reset the circuit breaker remotely. Thats one of the tech ways of short hunting. Not all shorts are the same kind either which makes it even harder, some tools work on some shorts and some on others. I hate short hunting.

kevin.

 

thanks everyone for ur help. i started following the wire that goes from the fuse to all the parts. and somehow it fixed itself. theres no more short in the car. the fuse doesnt blow anymore and everything back to normal. idk what happen there. but if it happens again i will let everyone know. thanks again for everyone help

 

most likely the insulation around a wire has stripped away at a certain point and is touching the car body causing a short, you moved the wire so it cant touch the ground. Most likely after some time it will start again, it's actually a fire hazard FYI. Especially being in the dash, you ever get a fuel vapor leak and that thing shorts at the right time *BOOM*

kevin.

 

well everyone. the problem is fixed. permanently. haha just like socket7 said.... it was a broken wire in the sun visor. there was no problems and then i used the visor and it shorted. so took it apart and fixed the problem. its all good now. and to teknics no more fire hazard and no "BOOM" lol

Thanks again to everyone for ur help. beats goin to the stealership.

 

good job, for future reference was your visor broken (top seem near pivot area splits) or were the wires simply shorted internally?

kevin.

 

it wasnt in the visor itself. there is a connector for the wires. and just behind the connector on the car side is where the wires were a lil bit cut and touching the body of the car which started shorting everything out.

 

alright cool, just making sure the exact problem gets posted so anyone who searches in the future will find the answer .

kevin.

 

thats what happened to me today and it was the visor light that caused it.

 

wow i think it's time to check mine and make sure everything looks ok just to b safe!

 

So I had a similar issue. I blew the room fuse. Its 15, I put a new one in and it blew right away with the car off. After I thought I'd put a 20 in. Around me seatbelt started smoking bad. Not sure if it caught on fire or.. what should i do next?

 

I would start looking for a sign of a short . The seatbelt is the last place to look.

 

Never EVER substitute a higher rated fuse.
You CAN start a fire.

 

I think you need to bring it to a professional. Someone who can own the responsibility of not burning the car down
The electrical components around the seatbelt the are on the Room fuse (as I recall) are the electric seat motors and airbags. I wouldn't mess with either. When you say seatbelt area, what do you mean exactly? There are other components under the center console and some wiring. I'd disconnect the battery and look for the source of the smoke. The interior is pretty easy to take apart. Just don't turn it on again until you know what's smoking.