Oxidized Fuse? Problems last night..

[427 Street]

I was driving the car around sunset last night....lights on...no problems. I then stopped off at a friend's house. When I started my car up and drove away, I noticed that the fuel gauge and the tach were not working.

My first thought was a short.

I called Bob today, and he said that the 3rd fuse down, on the right side, houses a 15A fuse that controls the tach, the fuel gauge, the wipers, and the heater. I then told him that I got back into the car this morning, I did not fire it up, but I turned the key to the ACC "first click" position, and the fuel gauge was working (I did not check the tach/wipers/heater etc) He then said it probably was not the fuse but maybe a Grounding problem.

I thought I would still change the fuse and look for a grounding issue later. When I opened the hood and looked at the fuse, the 15A fuse that he told me about looked awful. The other fuses were fine.

It did not have a broken element, but it looked like oxidation was on the element and the chalky oxidation "powder" was on the glass. It looked like it had been in salt water (just for a visual).

I changed it out, fired the engine, and everything works.

My question: Can a fuse that is not physically broken work intermittently like that and cause the problem that I has having with the gauges?

Thanks, I am not an electrical expert by any means.

[patrickt]

When you say the third fuse on the "right" side, do you mean the passenger side or driver side of the car?

[427 Street]

Passenger side

[Tommy]

Electricity for the circuits protected by a fuse must flow through the fuse. If something has caused its contact surface to oxidize so much that electricity cannot consistently flow through it, you could get the symptom you describe. If it were my car, I would put in a new fuse and check it periodically to see if the oxidation reappeared. If the oxidation returned, I'd start looking for a reason why (e.g., water dripping on it).

[patrickt]

I would say you either had a "jiggly-conductor" inside the fuse, or you have an intermittent fault on that circuit. If putting the new fuse in makes it go away then it's the former, if the problem returns, it's the latter.

[427 Street]

Great advice...thank you both.