Well, I'm trying to sort through some electrical issues with my ute at the moment. Inline fuses aren't polarised, ie they do not have a positive or negative side. They are designed to be placed inline of the flow of current, hence the term inline fuse. The white wire, according to the wiki, connects to the 'A' terminal on the voltage regulator. Therefore, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to connect that wire to the chassis.

I would suggest that you check your voltage regulator and your alternator to make sure that it isn't overcharging, as the more current and amps you push through a wire, the more resistance it creates (yep, good ol R=V/I comes into play here). And resistance, creates 'friction', and therefore produces heat.

The alternator in my ute (was Hitachi LT-135), was playing around on me like this, except I got it before my wires melted. Instead of replacing or adjusting the voltage regulator, I swapped out the alternator for a 55amp Mitsubishi internally regulated unit off of a C20 Vanette, which has an A15 engine, therefore was a straight physical swap with some minor wiring changes. So now, I've got an extra 20amps to play with, and my ute runs better, however I still need to chase down the bad earths that melted my speedo cable.

Well found part of my problem over half of my fuses were 30ampers. The other ones were 20's. I rewired the whole fuse block with in line fuses and it all seems tobe good now :crossfingers:

Yes, fuse box has no 'ground' (earth) -- it is all HOT stuff.

TIP: In general car wiring, WHITE or RED is usually a HOT wire. Black is usually ground.

Where is Dr. Funk when we need him? He's a sparky, isn't he?


LeDevil, glad to hear you found part of the problem. The 30A fuses will allow too much current to flow, melting the box instead of blowing at 10, 15 or 20A as designed.

Your next step is to find out why so much current is flowing.
* YES: check the voltage output at fast idle. If it's over 15V, that is a huge problem.
* If you have a 30A ammeter, you can test which lines have too much current through them. Nothing except headlights should draw more than 10A (I think).
* The traditional method to find the heavy current draw is to disconnect everything on the circuit, and put them back one at a time.

For example: For fuse "Horn/Stop/Hazard", disconnect the wires at the Horn, the Stop lights (in trunk). If it no longer get hot, plug one back in. Hot yet? Plug the next in. Hot yet? This way you can pin down where the problem is (or is not).

Well I think I fixed it all I re wired the box with Blade style fuses fixed a few grounds and put the correct fuses in it and well nothing appears to be getting hot :crossesfingers: Thanks for the help guys

Glad to hear it.

Are you coming to the Des Moines meet this Sunday 12-4pm?

I'll see if I can make is there a exact location I can map quest for directions?