Stranded me far from home

[Neouka]

Well, it happened. My car is in Toronto, and I'm not. Very pissed off right now. I was there for a medical required for a job offer, in the middle of a snowstorm... and my car let me down D:Since this is related, this is the problem I was having about a month ago: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=31791 .. It happened just as I pulled in to the office where I needed to be, so I didn't think much of it. Come out an hour later, and... nothing. The car starts and runs, but no headlights, no gauges, no wipers (it was snowing buckets out), no signals, no windows... not much of anything. Immediately checked the fuse box.Turns out the 100 amp ALT fuse... MELTED and FUSED ITSELF into the fuse box. Great. That's not what it's supposed to do at all. Called up my friend, who told me there's a Toyota dealer 5 mins up the road according to google maps. Drive there... It didn't exist. Grrreeaat. So I go 10 mins backtracking up the road .. very carefully.. to a Pontiac dealer. Had to leave it there. They're going to call me tomorrow on how much it's going to cost. At least $90 for the electrical diagnostic, $140 for the new fuse box that was destroyed... and who knows what else. I'd like to know what caused it.This is a really bad time for my car to start breaking. 1: cause I have 3.5 years left paying it off, and 2: I got the job (I'm going to drive coach buses), and I'm going to have to commute 1.5 hrs each way, every day, to Toronto for the next few months.Blah..

[ColonelPanic]

Arrgh! That really sucks! Nothing's worse than having a car you still have to pay on for a while start to flake out on ya... Been there.Hope you can get it fixed for a reasonable fee and good luck with the new job.

[viber05]

my problems always happen after i pay it off. w/ my 98 malibu i had, first it was the alternator then my whole electrical system then transmission then went the motor and then went to the junk yard.

[WaveAction]

that sucks man, first i've ever heard of the actual fuse melting to the interior of the fuse box, to bad you werent in burlington you coulda left your vibe there at my dealership

[Neouka]

I would have driven it back if it was sunny and dry out (at the risk of killing my new battery tho)... but when it's snowing crazily, having no wipers makes it incredibly difficult.I hope it's all just caused by a faulty fuse or something, and it didn't do its job properly. But there's a reason fuses blow.... the only other thing I can think of that's related would be the alternator or the voltage regulator. But who knows, I'll find out soon I guess with how much it's going to kill my savings D:

[waveresponder]

sucks to hear....good luck getting it fixed and all!

[jwalcik]

That really sucks man. One of my co-workers just had something similar happen to his VW, only the fuse box he has to replace controls non-essential stuff like the AC. He's still got lights and wipers. I'm glad to hear you were able to navigate the storm safely without 'em. Congrats on the new job!

[Sublimewind]

That SUXs bad man... I know auto electrical well, and the only way it would have mentled and fused the fuse would be for it to be pulling 98 amps for a duration but not 100a.. If you ask me, there is NOTHING in the car besides the starter that would even come CLOSE to pulling 100a.... I would have them look at the starter solenoid FIRST, if it failed for some reason, it might pull that kind of current for an extended peroid of time.. Very odd, not cool, electrical problems account for more auto FIREs than anything else.. I am very glad you didn't come back to the fire dept. hosing your car down with foam...!

[lovemyraffe]

That sucks, good luck!

[melders]

this may be a dumb question...but would insurance cover that maybe? it could have been a fire? just my 2 centscongrats on the new job!

[MRCN RCE]

damn, sorry to hear that. like sublime said, at least your vibe didn't catch fire. maybe this is a good thing. imagine if that happened while you were driving, and the flames started . sounds like you shut the car down at the right timegood luck with the repairs, hopefully they won't cost too much

[vibolista]

Critters can get into wires, stripping insulation and causing all kinds of electrical havoc and mayhem. Let's hope that the fix is an easy one. Stuff like this never happens at a good time.

[Neouka]

I'm not counting on insurance to cover it, hell, they wouldn't even cover a broken door window when my first car (civic) got broken in to. Sometimes I question why I pay them...Waiting on the dealer to call me, hopefully it's done today. He called me yesterday with a few early details, saying it would probably be at least 500 bucks. Apparently some wire in the fusebox was cut and arcing, don't know the details but i'm certainly going to find out.Edit:Just got a call... Car's not going to be done today either D: .. They finished putting in the new fusebox and whatnot, but they don't have the fuse. Toyota apparently uses an 85 or 90 amp ALT fuse, so they won't use that. No other GM dealer in the area has the fuse either. (removed)...

[keithvibe]

just call them and tell them you have a spare... go pick it up at toyota.... and hand it to them ...

[Neouka]

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhrhrhhrhrwell.... SEVEN HUNDRED and FIFTY DOLLARS.. and I have my car back. Bad connection or improper install of the Alternator fuse caused some arcing and then it melted. Apparently that was only problem, and nothing else got fried as a result (thankfully). I find it odd, cause I've never had to do any work on the car until now, but I don't know about the previous owner... but you typically don't have to touch the fuses under the hood over the life of the car. So I assume it's been like that from the factory.$450 of it was labour... Unfortunately I didn't have a choice of garages, as I needed to get the car -immediately- to service, and a Pontiac dealer was the closest to me at the time.$170 for parts - new fuse box and alt fusetaxes, etc.. got an oil change too, so that's $40 more.Spent the last 2 hours driving it home in a snowstorm (did like 10-40 km/h all the way home in very heavy traffic), everything seems to be normal, so I'm going to call this case solved. My car better not give me any more grief, as I can't afford it now...

[keithvibe]

i think i speak for everyone here....

[waveresponder]

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »Very odd, not cool, electrical problems account for more auto FIREs than anything else.. I am very glad you didn't come back to the fire dept. hosing your car down with foam...!ooohhhhhh FOAM! ....wish we had that at my firehouse...maybe soon (Federal Grant to replace our 1986 Field Piece) BTW...sorry to go off topic