New fuses

[mauro12]

Hi guys , I need new fuses for my car because mine are very weak and they break easily . What can be the solution ? New fuse box or just replace the old style fuses ? Where can I source ?

[Pawel66]

Simplest is to use new old style fuses. Except for the short ones, if you do not care about colors, you can find them in auromotive stores. If you care about colors (white) and if you need the short ones - ebay or SLS.

[mauro12]

I blown the fuse number 5 ( turning signal ) I realized also that with the fuse blown , when I press the brake pedal , the red light of the alternator goes on . When I temporary fixed the fuse with a piece of wire , this problem disappeared. Anybody knows why ?
Anyway can I buy all new 12 fuses and change all ? What is the easiest solution ? I realized also that the fuse n 4 of the fuel pump is very old too . That is the most risky fuse .

[Cees Klumper]

Hey Mauro - please be careful!  Replacing a fuse with a strand of wire risks a fire!
That style fuse is still plenty available, so you should have no problem finding replacements. You may want to clean the contacts so they conduct properly. But aside from that, if they are still good, no need to actually replace them.

[mauro12]

Hi Cees , yes thank you for the advice . Since my fuses look very old , I prefer to change all anyway and not risk.

[mauro12]

Is it common to blow a fuse during the replacing of light bulbs ? Probably I touched something that I shouldn’t have touched .
By the way , this little things can leave you stranded if you don’t pay attention . Even the corrosion can cause a malfunction. If you blow a fuse for the parking lights that’s ok . If you blow a fuse for the fuel pump is another matter .

[FGN59]

Which is why whenever I get a new car (new to me), the first thing I buy is a set of spare fuses, which I keep in the car.

[Pawel66]

I keep several pieces of those critical ones in the car...

[lpeterssen]

Hey my friends

I will give you all one of my best practices for cleaning and polishing the main fuse box.

Take a paper and pencil.

Remove the main fuse box from the car, labeling all the wires carefully, and of course with the battery disconnected.

Prepare a CITRIC ACID SOLUTION, and have on hand a small stainless steel wire brush.  Will put the links of those items on amazon below.

The citric acid is used in the food industry as an additive for food conservation.  It is also used on the stainless steel vessel fabrication, one of my areas of knowledge, to remove impurities that lay on stainless steel surfaces.  In that way it is passivated and does not corrode during its operation.

Back to our fuse box, remove all the screws and put them on a separated container since most of the times they are from a different metal than the fuse box itself.

On one container you put the main fuse box with the citric acid solution (1 table spoons per liter of water) and in another container with same solution all the screws.

If you heat up the solution up to 60 degrees Celsius, much better.  That is about 150 F.

Let the parts stay in the solution overnight and at the following day you rinse them and brush softly with the wire brush suggested.  You will see marvelous results.  Dry all the parts at sun or n the Oven at 150F for 40 minutes.

Citric acid:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H3FHWCG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BABFYGF6ZG5SEDPZSYYM?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Small stainless steel wire brush:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CTLKFTV/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_BBE9RMVJNS1BXMVTC1SS?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


Regarding the fuses the BEST BRAND I use is FLOSSER, find them on eBay.  They are called TORPEDO FUSES.

Best Regards
L.peterssen

[mdsalemi]

You can buy small containers of citric acid in most grocery stores or department stores in the canning department. Cheap. I use it in cooking.

[lpeterssen]

Dear mdsalemi

I know this is kind off topic.  But can you explain which are the major uses of the citric acid in cooking?

Best regards
L.peterssen

[Pawel66]

From my wife:
- antioxidant, e.g. so that the vegetables/mushrooms or other ingredients you want to keep color (in communism, today it is lemon juice)
- meat or fish jellies
- cleaning - stain remover, stone removal form sinks, taps, hand cleaning

Loosing its usage to lemon juice if one is using natural ingredients.

[mauro12]

Guys but it’s not possible to put the standard 25amp fuse length instead of this old style short one ?

[lpeterssen]

Replace the fuse box for one of w108 which uses all the fuses of the same length, or modify yours by drilling, and putting a new fuse contact end.

[lpeterssen]

Guys but it’s not possible to put the standard 25amp fuse length instead of this old style short one ?

Drill the fuse receiver contact from the back and eliminate the supplement that makes it use smaller length fuses.

[mauro12]

Guys I realized that every time I pressed the brake pedal , fuse n5 was blowing . After some research, it came out the the cable of the stop light was partially disconnected. I think the best way is to solder .
Buying the entire lamp holder I guess it’s too much .

[roymil]

While you are in there you might consider adding a ground screw to those bulb sockets.  I also have the older brake plate and measured as much as 3 to 5 ohms between the bulb grounds and chassis ground, and it would fluctuate with pressure and vibration.   The bulb filaments themselves are only about 1 ohm depending on power rating, so you can see that even a small amount of additional ground resistance can reduce the effective power and light output dramatically. 

I used M2.5x8mm with star washers for improved bite and lower electrical resistance, as shown in the picture attached.  This change alone significantly improved the intensity of my brake and turn signal lights with standard bulbs.  It improved the backup lights even more when I added an additional ground screw to its backing plate, also with aging and loosened fittings.     

Here's a link to an earlier post about this : https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=22822.msg163284#msg163284. 

[Jordan]

Regarding the fuses the BEST BRAND I use is FLOSSER, find them on eBay.  They are called TORPEDO FUSES.

Best Regards
L.peterssen

Are these the plastic body fuses or the original ceramic body fuses?