240 General: Fuses - again !

[Clifford Pope]

Another warning about cleaning them and fitting good quality.

The car has been running perfectly, then suddenly would not restart after shopping. I had already fitted all new Crank Sensor, Ignition Amplifier, Fuel pump relay, and a set of new fuses a few months ago.

I twiddled the pump fuses (4 and 6) to no avail, so than bridged them and the car started immediately. It continued to run well even after removing the linking wire, and was fine for about a week.
Then it suddenly cut out one day, just for a second, but then picked up and was fine for the next few days. I put in another new relay.

Yesterday it cut out again, but after a few fits and starts again restarted after a few seconds.
Fearing something much more serious, like a fraulty signal from the ECU, or a second poor fuel pump relay, I firstly again looked at the fuses.
Fuse 6 appeared all right, but in fact had softened slightly at one end, allowing the contact to sink a bit into the end of the fuse. It looked alright, but was obviously now shorter so not held so firmly by the springy contacts.

So, the modern plastic fuses are useless. Where can I buy proper traditional ceramic fuses? Volvo?

[Stephen Edwin]

I hope someone can point us all to actual ceramic fuses.

I am considering fitting inline blade fuses to 4 and 6. Someone recently posted about having done that.

I wonder if anyone has fitted a complete new blade fuse fusebox and can it be done neatly?

[tannachyallen]

I got a supply from these guys on ebay after Derek UK posted a link:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8AMP-CERAM...item486daca046

Dave A.

[Stephen Edwin]

I remember that link. I confess I thought the seller might be using the ceramic word to describe the style and shape, rather than to specify as being made of ceramic.

[Clifford Pope]

They look good. Can anyone confirm that they really are ceramic?

If they really are then they should be un-meltable, until they get red-hot and crack of course.

[tannachyallen]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

They look good. Can anyone confirm that they really are ceramic?

If they really are then they should be un-meltable, until they get red-hot and crack of course.

pretty sure the ones I received are ceramic..............

Dave A.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

They look good. Can anyone confirm that they really are ceramic?

If they really are then they should be un-meltable, until they get red-hot and crack of course.

If they are getting hot enough to melt the "plastic" there is something wrong , high resistance , i would fit a new fuse box .

[Clifford Pope]

That's a good point. But these latest ones don't need to get hot to melt - they start to soften when merely warm so then it gets worse.
I'll try some from the link.

[Stephen Edwin]

But if one fits a new Volvo fuse box (Are they available? At a reasonable price? And how much time to change the fusebox?) is one only deferring the problem? Perhaps only partially deferring the problem because the fuses themselves are an issue for 240s now.

Has anyone changed to a blade fuse box and can a particular fusebox be recommended please?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

But if one fits a new Volvo fuse box (Are they available? At a reasonable price? And how much time to change the fusebox?) is one only deferring the problem? Perhaps only partially deferring the problem because the fuses themselves are an issue for 240s now.

Has anyone changed to a blade fuse box and can a particular fusebox be recommended please?

here is a source for ceramic fuses , they also do fuse boxes , a 12 way and a 4 way fitted together should do .. but the terminals on one side are interconnected on certain terminals you could do this of course with these new fuse boxes but it would not be so neat .

Try volvo for new fuse boxes , if not available i'm sure i have a brand new one somewhere ....