Fuse box dissaster! Help!

[Dale B.]

I just got a prestine '73 240Z and the fuse to the brake lights just melted a hole in the fuse box!! What did I do to cause this?!!

Has anyone else had this happen? I remember this same thing happening to my fathers '73 Z. Please Help!

[Daniel]

Dale I've had a couple of 73's and have not seen that problem.I can make some guesses that may help.The first place I would look is the fuse holder it self.Make sure it has the correct fuse in it.I think it is a 20amp.I don't have my book here.That being correct I would check the holder.With age the heat and cooling of the holder clip can cause it to spread out.That resistance(in the form of poor connection)causes heat.I disconnected my battery pulled all my fuses,making darn sure I could replace them in the proper place,and cleaned the holder clips with contact cleaner.With age also comes oxidation of the clip,resistance again.This is easy,heck I got brighter headlights out of it!Another thing is to make certain that ALL--I mean tag/glove box/interior/sidelights/ALL your bulbs are working.I have seen bad bulbs/sockets cause a short that is not bad enough to pop the fuse but be enough to overload the circuit. You could also use the contact cleaner on your bulb sockets.Again I can't hurt and its easy.I think you'll find that something that shares that fuse is the problem as the brake lights aren't really on long enough at one time to create that kind of heat.Pull the fuseand what ever quits working is sharing that circuit. Daniel

[Dave Sommers]

Dale, Daniel is going the right direction here and giving you some good advice. You also need to take a look at the backside of the fuse box itself and make sure that the connections there are in good shape. If the riveted connector is the least bit dirty or loose, you will get problems. You can load the circuits and feel each fuse for heat - if you can feel the heat, you need to look for a problem in that circuit.

The design of the early Z car fuse box caused ALOT of problems with exactly what you experienced. My 73 did it when it was about 3 years old, the next 73 I had did it, and the 72 I now have also has a melted out position in the box. However, it is usually the position that fuses the running lights that melts out, not the brakes. I've seen this on just about every 240 I have worked on, so welcome to the club...