30 Amp fuse keeps blowing

[SevenCorners]

I am beginning to get the sinking feeling about making a bad decision buying this tractor. What next.....
The 30 Amp fuse for the Ampmeter keeps blowing. Makes no difference whether the key is on or off. With key off there is power to the fuse block and immediately the fuse blows. I can't get the engine started without the fuse in place, what do you suppose is wrong now?

 

[beenthere]

To find the short, make up a light bulb with two leads, that will plug into the fuse block. If what you say is happening, the light will come on. Then you can start to trace the wires, and disconnect things until the light goes off (no short) and find the culprit causing the short. Hope it works for you.
(If it was a Deere, I know what I would do with it, but expect that isn't possible for you to do).
Seriously, Good luck.

 

[GRUMPA]

If this is what yours looks like Wiring Diagram I would take off the wire that "GOES INTO" the Ampmeter. As you stated it makes no difference if the key is off or on and the fuse blows (correct me if I'm wrong). If there's more than one wire coming out of that 30amp fuse (which I hope not) disconnect 1 at a time and see if you can find the circuit that way. I'm going by this drawing and if its like mine its strictly theoritical.

 

[GRUMPA]

Need to add more here I forgot. If you disconnect the wire going into your ampmeter and it blows the fuse (with the wire off) its in that one length of wire. If it dosnt blow it re-connect the wire and disconnect the wire going out of it. If the fuse dosnt blow you know your ampmeter is OK. Then hook the wire back up and if it does blow I would say its your ignition switch.

 

[SevenCorners]

Thanks Grumpa, I have a short finder so I didn't have to make one, it was definitely a short, only I am not sure I found it if you know what I mean. It looked like it was a short to ground, cause when I wiggled a grounded wire below the steering wheel the bulb flickered, however there was also a cold solder on the instrument cluster I found after taking it off the body, so to make a complex story short, I soldered the cold solder, took off the connector on the ground, sanded down the metal, used dielectric grease and a new crimp. The light is off, put in a new fuse and so far it has not blown. I have to tally up my total hours troubleshooting and repairing vs working. 28 hours Repair 13 hours working. Ha over 2 to 1 sure hope this improves, I am thinking about going into business repairing these things, shoot at this rate I will be an expert in a couple of weeks!!!

 

[Harrygoodwrench]

Don't worry Seven Corners, most if any problems are during the first 50 hours I'm told. After that the "bugs" so to speak have been corrected. Your short sounds like a simple short to ground being that it doesn't matter if key on or not. Just recheck harness does not have a pinched wire. Other than that it sounds like you have it covered. Good luck with your 224( same as mine). I hope you get as happy with yours as I am with mine.

 

[greg_g]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The 30 Amp fuse for the Ampmeter keeps blowing. Makes no difference whether the key is on or off. With key off there is power to the fuse block and immediately the fuse blows. I can't get the engine started without the fuse in place, what do you suppose is wrong now?)</font>
Also be aware of a potential short in the ignition switch. I went through two Jinma switches in the 1st fifty hours. Didn't take me long to put in a Ford switch. Check out my Wiring Diagram. Works great, and adds the capability to keep the glow plugs energized in the START position.

//greg//

 

[SevenCorners]

Thanks guys, I am just leery that I "fixed" this one since I really didn't find the short, I just think I did lol.... I had an old Ford PU that kept burning Fuse boxes and after 3 changes and countless hours troubleshooting I gave up, never solved it, each time I thought it was fixed it proved me wrong. The good thing about the 224 is it's so simple, there isn't the miles of wires the truck had. I noticed that when I put back my gauge cluster the right side [in drivers seat] hold down is very very close to a ground on the instrument cluster. It does not appear to be a problem at least on mine but I can see how if the insulation around the connector is lose boom short....

 

[johnk]

I put the Ford ignition in mine also. Saves a lot of electrical problems down the road.

http://users.adelphia.net/~gizmo/

 

[DavidBradley]

Seven, I had the same problem with my FP2420. Fuse would last until I got the RPM above 1500, then it went. I removed all but the 30A and 20A fuses. The 20A supplies power to the gauges. I dont use the head lights, horn, turn signals, rear work light anyway. This eliminates a good bit of the wiring to check. I removed the wire that splits off from the ampmeter and goes to the ignition switch at the switch(yellow wire #5) I think and also disconnected the wire at the ignition switch that feeds the glow plugs(#12). Then I ran a wire direct from the battery with a 30A in-line fuse to the ignition switch where #5 was connected. I disconnected the ampmeter, and connected the two wires together with a small bolt, and taped it up good.
Since then none of the three fuses have blown. When the fuse was blowing, I could occasionally get a reading of .2 ohms at the ammeter, but only sometimes and if I bumped anything, it went away. I now have good voltage for charging the battery now, and will replace the ampmeter. I didnt change all this wiring at one time, but eliminated 1 circuit at a time. If you still have problems with the fuse blowing, try taking the ampmeter out of the circiut first by removing the wires from the ampmeter and connecting them together. You can still check the charging voltage with a voltmeter, it should read from around 12.8 to 14.5 volts when charging. The battery needs very little charging except after cranking, as there is really no load on the system unless you have the lights on, or blow the horn a lot. Sorry this is so long. Hope it helps

Dave