914 Indicator Problems and Blowing fuses, Help with diagnosing electrical issue Options

[FELIX74]

Hello

I am new to this forum and have owned my 914 for 4 months......best thing ever!

Until.....

A few nights ago i was driving and as i tried to use my right indicator, i heard a clicking noise from the fuse box area beneath my steering wheel. The indicator stopped working....Left still works, but nothing happens with the right. Incidentally my HAZARD lights button has never worked but all other electrics worked fine up to this point.

Anyway, i stopped the car (at the pub :-) ), when i returned.......the Tach, Fuel Gauge, Instrument lights all had stopped working. I discovered the fuses had blown (2).

I replaced them but they blow instantly. Indicator is still dead.

I bought a new relay and replaced it but that has not helped at all.

Next step is i guess to look in more details at the fuse box, or maybe the indicator switch itself?

I wondered if any of the more experienced 'Teener' owners had some sage advice

Many thanks

Mike

[Spoke]

Which fuses blew?

Did you do any work on the car lately?

[john77]

Do you have the stock fuse box? If yes, I would consider upgrading to a JWest fuse box. It eliminated numerous gremlins I had when I first got my car. While you're swapping all the wires over, wire wool or sandpaper the connectors on the ends of all the wires too.

Was the turn signal not working before the fuses started popping or did this happen at the same time? These two things may or may not be related.

The clicking noise is probably the relay working. If one turn signal is working it's not the relay, if the relay was broken neither would work. Does the parking light on that side work?

If you can hear the relay clicking my guess is it isn't the steering column switch, because if the switch wasn't working the relay wouldn't even engage.

So I'd say either a bad bulb (did you check the bulb?) or a bad ground? Do you have a multimeter? Can you check if there's even power going to that turn signal?

The other fuses blowing sounds like you have a short somewhere. A live wire has rubbed through and is grounding out on something. Welcome to the joys of 914 ownership (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[FELIX74]

Which fuses blew?

Did you do any work on the car lately?

Hi,

No not worked on car lately.

2nd from Right Fuse and 4th from right fuse.

Seems to be Fogs, Fuel Gauge, Tach, Dash lights

[FELIX74]

Do you have the stock fuse box? If yes, I would consider upgrading to a JWest fuse box. It eliminated numerous gremlins I had when I first got my car. While you're swapping all the wires over, wire wool or sandpaper the connectors on the ends of all the wires too.

Was the turn signal not working before the fuses started popping or did this happen at the same time? These two things may or may not be related.

The clicking noise is probably the relay working. If one turn signal is working it's not the relay, if the relay was broken neither would work. Does the parking light on that side work?

If you can hear the relay clicking my guess is it isn't the steering column switch, because if the switch wasn't working the relay wouldn't even engage.

So I'd say either a bad bulb (did you check the bulb?) or a bad ground? Do you have a multimeter? Can you check if there's even power going to that turn signal?

The other fuses blowing sounds like you have a short somewhere. A live wire has rubbed through and is grounding out on something. Welcome to the joys of 914 ownership (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hi, this is a great start....so

I checked, all bulbs fine, grounding fine and all lights work in the front......

I cant hear the clicking now and neither indicator works when engine running.

The order of the fault was, indicator stopped working, then fuses started to blow....as soon as i started car again.

I am guessing i need to inspect the fuse panel in detail for a short or something as next step?

[porschetub]

Have you looked @ the indicator switch ? also the wiring tray that carries the wiring down the column is rather fragile,you may have a live wire grounding in there.
You could try to locate the live side to the relay and make sure that isn't shorted out somewhere also.
Trust me I'am no expert it just takes time with a tester and patience,my car doesn't get run much and it seems everytime I sits unused I have another issue when I drive it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) .
You mentioned your hazard warning won't function,there is a fair amount of interconnection between the 2 systems so would also pay to look in that area also,see if you can get another switch if everthing checks out otherwise.
Good luck.