If you're wondering how to tell if a fuse is blown? You need to locate the fuse box, determine which fuse is expected to be blown, replace the blown fuse to resolve the issue.
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
Fuses are smart innovations added to protect all electrical components. These fuses are responsible for preventing any overflow of electrical current from damaging the electrical component.
When there is a lot of electrical current flowing towards a device, the fuse blows up to prevent damaging the electrical component and warn that there is something wrong internally.
It's important for you as a driver to keep an eye an ear for any symptoms indicating that there is a blown fuse inside your vehicle.
Once you detect a blown fuse, you need to replace it immediately to get your electrical device is working as normal.
This article provides you with all you need to know about the main role of the fuse in your vehicle, the main causes of blown fuses, the main symptoms indicating that you're dealing with a blown fuse, and potential solutions and guidance for replacing a blown fuse.
What is the fuse, and what does it do?
Before we dive into the details about how to tell if a fuse is blown? You need to understand the importance and main role of the fuse in your vehicle.
Fuses are simple features connected to electrical devices. These fuses are responsible for monitoring and preventing overflow of current that could damage the electrical device. When a lot of electrical current passes through the fuse, if either blows or burns out to give you a heads up, there is a lot of current getting to the device, and therefore, it blocks this overflow and protects the electrical device.
Electrical devices are also part of any vehicle, which means that you'll see many uses in your car. The good news is that you don't have to worry about finding fuses in multiple locations around your vehicle associated with different electrical components. Usually, the fuses are in either one or two fuse boxes, making it easy to access them and monitor blown up or burnt fuses.
One of the quickest ways to determine if you are dealing with a blown fuse is when one device breaks out. In other words, if you were driving and notice that the radio is not working properly or the headlights went out, your problem is most likely related to a bad or burnt fuse your
Some other major components might also rely on electrical current to get started, and a bad fuse might prevent them from working properly. For example, many safety features in modern vehicles are connected to electrical sources. Also, the powertrain electronic components and the chassis are electronic features that also can get affected by blown fuses.
What are the main reasons for blown fuses?
There are a variety of reasons causing the fuses to blow in your car. Fuses are not designed to last forever, and there will be a point in time where you must place at least one of them.
In general, fuses blow up due to withdrawing more electrical charge than necessary, and when they blow up, they protect the devices. They are a good number of possible reasons for blown fuses include:
- Problems with the wiring
- Issues with the switches
- Troubles with the motor itself
- Moving parts that cause electrical motivation
Therefore, when the electrical components stop working, the first step for you is to inspect the fuses. However, if the issue affects very complicated systems in your vehicle, the problem should be inspected thoroughly and not only rely on replacing the fuses.
For example, the issue might be linked to major internal damage that might worsen if left unfixed. In this case, your best course of action is to consult a professional mechanic and have him use certain toolsets to identify the primary culprit.
How to tell if a fuse is blown?
The good news here is that even though the fuse is a minor component in your car, there are some symptoms that you can look for indicating a blown fuse. If you suspected a blown fuse, it is recommended that you follow a certain procedure to confirm and check for blown fuses without just relying on the symptoms you notice.
Some of these symptoms might be linked to any other faulty components in your vehicle, and performing the actual inspection is a must before replacing fuses.
Let's take a closer look below at the standardized procedure on “how to tell if a fuse is blown?”:
-
Look for general symptoms of a blown fuse
When you're having an issue with your car, you won't immediately assume that it's a blown fuse and go ahead to check it. There should be some symptoms you need to have first, indicating a blown fuse.
In general, when your car has a blown fuse, you won't notice major issues like your Engine troubles; the symptoms are linked to minor issues, including:
- The vehicle's lights might not start
- You won't be able to use some of the climate features in your vehicle
- You might have difficulty turning on your vehicle's radio
- Your car might not have a working turn signal
- On rare occasions, a blown fuse might affect your vehicle's starting process.
-
Locate the fuse box
Once you confirm that you are dealing with symptoms indicating a blown fuse, your next step is to inspect the fuse box and find the faulty fuse.
To do so, the first thing you need to do is to locate the fuse box by a frontier vehicles owner’s manual.
Usually, their fuse box is expected to be in two main locations: the first one is underneath the dashboard near the driver's door. The second one might be under the hood. The best and most accurate recommendation should be somewhere in your vehicle's owner’s manual.
Within the fuse box, look at the diagram and refer to the location and label of each fuse. The diagram can help you determine which fuse is connected to which electrical component in your vehicle. Therefore, if you know that, for example, the air conditioning system is not working, you should look for the fuse connected to the air conditioning system and so on. It's hard to inspect all fuses within the fuse box because there are more than 30 fuses, and it can be time-consuming without referring to the diagram and determining the right fuse you're looking for.
After locating the right fuse, you're looking for, using a puller, take the fuse out carefully without breaking it. Take a closer look at the fuse and look for signs of damages or burning smells. If the fuse is blown up, you will see some signs of melted wires around it.
If you can't tell whether the fuse is blown or not, you can simply use a multimeter to help you identify the resistance of the fuse. If the resistance is not within the specified range in your vehicle's owner’s manual, then the Fuse should be replaced to resolve the issue. On the other hand, if there are no signs of fuse damages, then the problem happening to the electrical component is not related to the fuse and can be related to something else. If that's the case, your best option is to refer to your professional mechanic and have him perform a thorough inspection.
-
Replace the faulty fuse
Replacing the fuse should not be a complicated job, and many drivers prefer to do it themselves to save on labor costs.
All it takes you is to buy the right fuse that is identical to the old one. Keep in mind that you must install the same fuse in the right location because buying the wrong fuse with different resistance can cause damages to the electrical component this fuse is supposed to protect.
A good tip is to either refer to your vehicle's owner’s manual or take a picture of the old views. By the same one here at once you purchased the no fuse, you can simply insert it in the location of the old one and make sure that you press it to the bottom, so it gets placed in the right place.
If you don't know what, you should press a little more on the fuse, you can compare to the surrounding uses and see if they align together.
Assuming that we could successfully replace the old fuse, you can go ahead and start your engine then, check the faulty component and see if it's working now.
If you are electrical component is now working, you were able to replace the old fuse successfully. However, if it's not working, it could be one of two things: either you did not replace the right fuse or another faulty component causing the issue, which requires consulting a professional mechanic.
How much does it cost to replace a blown fuse?
Luckily, replacing a blown fuse is not a complicated job, which means that you can easily eliminate labor costs completely. The part itself should not cost you more than $1.00! Yes! It is that cheap. That's why most automotive experts recommend that you replace your own fuse to save yourself a lot of time and effort visiting the repair shop to get it replaced.
However, if you decided to go to a repair shop to replace a blown fuse, expect to pay between $100 in $200. Usually, the process should not be very complicated and wouldn't take the mechanic more than 15 to 20 minutes to replace the fuse. Of course, if the repair shop is busy and is in an urban area, waiting time can add up.
If you could not resolve the issue after replacing the fuse, the only solution is to consult a mechanic because your problem could be related to something else.
Will AutoZone replace fuses?
Absolutely! AutoZone is one of the very common places that people trust to get the most simple maintenance done. AutoZone can replace blown fuses with very high-quality uses from trusted automakers. AutoZone also can change the entire circuit and inspect for breakage around the electrical wiring that could affect the fuses.
Conclusion
In general, fuses are placed in a vehicle or in the house to protect electrical devices by preventing overflow of electrical current, which could damage the electrical device.
Fuses are susceptible to damages and can melt over time if they were exposed to extreme flow current. Therefore, it is not rare to deal with blown fuses during the lifetime of your vehicle.
This article provided you with all you need to know to tell whether the fuse is blown or not. It also helped you understand how to inspect the vehicle and find the blown fuse to replace it.
If your car has additional more damages aside from the blown fuse, you might need to evaluate the situation and see if it's worth selling your car to Cash Cars Buyer instead and use the money towards a better vehicle that doesn't have any problem.
Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated car removal companies in the nation that guarantees to pay you the top dollars and will provide you with free towing despite your living location around the United States.
The best thing about Cash Cars Buyer is that our process is very straightforward and doesn't take more than a couple of days to get your vehicle removed safely and for the most money.
To learn more about our process and our team, you can reach out to us by giving us a call at 866-924-4608 or visit our home page click on the free instant online offer.