Iceman_F1
08-17-2009, 07:50 AM
First off, let me say I don't REALLY know much about electrical stuff so I might be talking non-sense...but here's what happened.
On Friday, I was driving home from work and hit a "bump" in the road on the 407 (there's a dip in the road going west just after the 401 exit at the bridge that sometimes feels like it could launch a car). I hit that bump and then my stereo shut off (aftermarket in-dash-nav). At first I didn't think anything of it since it's not the first time after hitting a bump that the stereo shut off but usually it came right back on again. No such luck this time.
So I keep driving thinking it's just a stereo problem and maybe when I put in the steering wheel controls device, the wiring came loose and just wasn't supplying power (as it was just a quick job to be fixed later that I just haven't had time for).
I eventually get to a point on the road where I can quickly throw it in park, turn off the car and turn it back on thinking that might work. Then, I notice it might be something bigger as when I turn back ON the car, still no stereo but the needles on the gauges spike to max position then come back down. I eventually decide to just quickly stop at the store on the way so I can go home then worry about finding what's wrong with the car...
When I exit out of my car and try to lock the doors remotely, it didn't work...next clue that something was wrong. Manually lock the doors, go shopping and come back. Unlock the doors but alarm goes off when I open a rear door (weird) so lock the doors again to stop the alarm then just do everything from the driver door. Start the car and notice trip computer is reset. Eventually make it home and think it might be a blown fuse(s). Manual didn't help (or I'm clueless when reading that section) so I just start trying them from the engine bay. Turns out it's the room fuse. Luckly, my mom also has a mazda3 and is away on vacation so I took a fuse out from her car (in hindsight, shouldn't have taken her room fuse as it reset her trip computer and radio stuff) to put in mine and everything works again.
So while this is a "good to know" for later, I have a few questions...
Is it possible to put a bigger fuse in that section? IE that was a 15 fuse...is there a higher number fuse I could put in there that might take more load before going? Or is that not recommended?
Is it possible that it was possibly loose connectors from my stereo that when I hit the bump and it was trying to turn back on the stereo after powering off (as it sometimes did in the past) that caused the fuse to blow?
Should I just keep a bunch of spare fuses just in case this happens again?
I know the room fuse controls a lot since after this, it took out the remote for the lock/unlock, the trip computer, the stereo. From what I found, it also has something to do with the door lights or something? What else does this fuse control? Going back to my first question, if it affects this much in the car, wouldn't it make more sense to have a more powerful fuse? Or is 15 really enough and I just happen to blow it?
Thanks for any suggestions. Weird problem to happen semi out of the blue like that...
On Friday, I was driving home from work and hit a "bump" in the road on the 407 (there's a dip in the road going west just after the 401 exit at the bridge that sometimes feels like it could launch a car). I hit that bump and then my stereo shut off (aftermarket in-dash-nav). At first I didn't think anything of it since it's not the first time after hitting a bump that the stereo shut off but usually it came right back on again. No such luck this time.
So I keep driving thinking it's just a stereo problem and maybe when I put in the steering wheel controls device, the wiring came loose and just wasn't supplying power (as it was just a quick job to be fixed later that I just haven't had time for).
I eventually get to a point on the road where I can quickly throw it in park, turn off the car and turn it back on thinking that might work. Then, I notice it might be something bigger as when I turn back ON the car, still no stereo but the needles on the gauges spike to max position then come back down. I eventually decide to just quickly stop at the store on the way so I can go home then worry about finding what's wrong with the car...
When I exit out of my car and try to lock the doors remotely, it didn't work...next clue that something was wrong. Manually lock the doors, go shopping and come back. Unlock the doors but alarm goes off when I open a rear door (weird) so lock the doors again to stop the alarm then just do everything from the driver door. Start the car and notice trip computer is reset. Eventually make it home and think it might be a blown fuse(s). Manual didn't help (or I'm clueless when reading that section) so I just start trying them from the engine bay. Turns out it's the room fuse. Luckly, my mom also has a mazda3 and is away on vacation so I took a fuse out from her car (in hindsight, shouldn't have taken her room fuse as it reset her trip computer and radio stuff) to put in mine and everything works again.
So while this is a "good to know" for later, I have a few questions...
Is it possible to put a bigger fuse in that section? IE that was a 15 fuse...is there a higher number fuse I could put in there that might take more load before going? Or is that not recommended?
Is it possible that it was possibly loose connectors from my stereo that when I hit the bump and it was trying to turn back on the stereo after powering off (as it sometimes did in the past) that caused the fuse to blow?
Should I just keep a bunch of spare fuses just in case this happens again?
I know the room fuse controls a lot since after this, it took out the remote for the lock/unlock, the trip computer, the stereo. From what I found, it also has something to do with the door lights or something? What else does this fuse control? Going back to my first question, if it affects this much in the car, wouldn't it make more sense to have a more powerful fuse? Or is 15 really enough and I just happen to blow it?
Thanks for any suggestions. Weird problem to happen semi out of the blue like that...