Technical F30 15amp fuse melted in fuse box above battery.

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Technical F30 15amp fuse melted in fuse box above battery.

dtimmins1985

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So guys.

As subject says... F30 15amp fuse in the fuse box in the engine bay has melted and my front fogs have failed for good.

Edit: my fogs had already failed before changing my bulbs, hence me replacing them to find out they didn't work and then on further inspection i find the real fault.

Today i was replacing all the bulbs up front so had battery out and washer bottle detached from body and strapped up.

Replaced both fogs with 130% brighter bulbs and warranty, they cost £30! then i put the same 130% in my dipped but in h7 fitment (will upload pics later) then i put some LEDs in the side lights... cost me £24 quid for 4 (came in packs of two) Ring led canbus safe.

All looks good but fogs dont work...

Inspected old bulbs and one had fused and the other had clearly broke... so what had caused f30 to fuse and melt into my fuse box?

Luckily i have a spare fuse box from the car i stripped (it was same as mine, identical model and spec)... but two fuses have snapped.

So far I have sprayed it with contact cleaner brushed it down and will repeat a few times... if i can remove the snapped pins and replace fuses on donor fuse box then ill have some working fog lights again... but that's a big but.... i really dont wanna have to completley strip it, looks like a nightmare!

Anyone else have a fuse melt like this? Can an arking bulb that's fused cause this? Just worried the issue may return once all fixed again.
 
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Bloody 'ell lad you do come up with 'em don't you.... At least it's 'only' the fog lamps so it's not like you're missing a vital function.

Fuses melting is an odd one. Of course the natural behavior of a fuse is to melt, albeit at a specific point and therefore breaking the circuit in the event of overload.

15amp if it's purely for the fogs alone would be 180 watts of power, or 90w per bulb. Even the 130% bulbs are still only 55w so that leaves you some good head room.

You've kind of got to assume that something must have been drawing too much current for it and has melted it, it's the only real explanation and way of causing heat enough to melt something like that.

It might be worth taking a look at the guide section on cleaning the fuse board to make sure it wasn't arching somewhere in there and heating it up?

You can only really fit the new bulbs, new fuse and see what happens. I'm sure we've all had the scenario where a fuse blows, we replace it and carry on and it's never a problem again. Without knowing the history of when or how it was popped we'll never be able to get any further I don't think.
 
Aye this is third car i have had thats had issues with lights lol.

Previously it's been the stalk or the connector on the bulb thats caused shorting and fuses to melt but this is a weird one...

A few weeks ago the fogs started to fail intermittently and when i removed both bulbs, one was blown and one had fused inside the glass in the filaments... so in wondering if that bulb has caused it by drawing too much power and not blowing...

I've got a spare fuse box so will strip it tonight... two fuses broke in the spare fuse box so need to remove them and one of them was f30 (bang) !!
 
Sounds like you have had a busy day. I swapped out all mine when it was nice and dry this summer.

I went yellow on the fogs as I wanted to be different.....and they work better in the fog...
 
Sounds like you have had a busy day. I swapped out all mine when it was nice and dry this summer.

I went yellow on the fogs as I wanted to be different.....and they work better in the fog...

Aye it was a busy day and I have found a new trick within the guts of my engine bay, that will allow me to change bulbs much quicker and enables me to fit the rear covers (on the light clusters) with ease.

The trick is - of course, to remove the metal clip that holds on the plastic cover on the back of the lights, once removed (push down at the bottom and pull at the top to release from the light casing) and you can them slide the cover into the retaining holes (near the wing) much much easier, then its a case of popping the metal clip into its retaining holes and latching it back on...

When I did this, i managed to fit the drivers side plastic cap first time round (after struggling with the metal hinged clip in place), so when doing the passenger side - i repeated and it was a doddle (still have to remove battery) but makes it so much easier.

I still havent bothered working on the spare fuse box yet, its too cold - i know i can do it in doors but once its done - i will be itching to get it swapped on the car - that means going out in the freezing cold and messing about for a good 30mins - which i dont fancy doing in this weather so it will wait until its a tad warmer.
 
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