*Cliffs at bottom for the non-reading types*

I have OEM 99-00 foglights, and I wired everything up correctly and even switched the 2 wires around before I installed them so that I could use them with only my parking lights..

I installed them about 3 months ago and they worked perfectly. About a month after, I installed a subwoofer and they still worked fine. Now fast forward to 2 weeks ago, I had a friend of a friend re-tune my amp for the sub since he said he could make it sound better. I also added an ipod cable to the back of my head unit which required me finding a 12v constant source as well as a ground (which I just tapped into the 12v wire going to the headunit as well as the ground wire).

That same day after re-tuning my amp, I went out for a drive with some friends. My foglights were on when I left my house, we drove for around for about 15 minutes and then stopped at Friday's. There I notice my foglights were off. I traced the problem to the blown 15 amp fuse on the harness and replaced it. The fogs worked again. A day later the fuse blew again. I looked over the whole harness and did not see anything out of the ordinary (no exposed wires touching bare metal or other wires etc...)

I thought it may be my amp pulling too much power causing it to blow or something, but from most of the responses I got from asking int he audio section here and other places, I was told that that wouldn't cause my foglight fuse to blow and sounded more like a bad ground or short somewhere (but I don't see one anywhere).

Fast forward another 2 weeks to today, I've blown 8 fuses. I used my last one today right before I went to a meet, and it blew at the meet.

*Now here's where it gets interesting:*
At the meet, the fuse blew right as I was reversing into my parking spot. When I realized that, I thought back to last week when I attended the same meet and I remembered that it did blow while I was reversing into a parking spot as well, and thinking back to the first time it happened, I did back up into the parking space at Friday's.

So yea, I've made a little more progress by finding out that the fuse blows when I reverse with the foglights on. It never used to do this before because I've back up many times before with them on. It has only started happening after my amp was re-tuned and I added the ipod cable. Now my question is, does anyone know why this is happening and how can I fix it? This is getting really frustrating, I wanna be able to use my fogs and not worry about the fuse blowing lol.

I read in another forum that it should be ok to change the 15amp fuse with a 20amp one, but I'm not sure if that's safe. What do you guys think? This is so frustrating!

Sorry for such a long post, and thanks for your time and help.

*Cliffs*
---------
-Installed OEM 99-00 fogs which worked perfectly for 3 months.
-Recently had subwoofer amp re-tuned and added ipod cable to headunit and on that same day 15amp fuse on foglight harness blew.
-I replace the fuse and the fogs work again but eventually blow after a while (went through 8 fuses in 2 weeks).
-Realized tonight that the fuse blows when I reverse with the foglights on.
-HALP!!!1!one!!1!

Thanks again.

 

kinda sounds like u have a wire bare and touching somewhere i would go over the wires and make sure nothing is exposed and touching metal on the car

 

sounds like a short to me, and also do you have a relay for the lights?

 

ok, I'll take apart the underside of the driver's side dash and look for anywhere it can be shorting out, as well as checking where the harness is in the steering column.

And yes it does have a relay. Any other ideas as to what it can be, or does it definitely sound like a short somewhere?

 

ok so I took a look at all of the wiring and everything seems fine. All wires are intact and nothing is touching against bare metal. I replaced the fuse again and my fogs are working, the only question is how long will it take for the fuse to blow again.

Like I said it only started doing this after the guy messed around with my amp and headunit. Is it possible he adjusted them to the point that my system is pulling a lot more power causing the fuse to blow? I know it may sound stupid but I have no idea what else it could be.

 

Nope.

Think about it. Fuses blow because they have too much current going to them; an amp pulling "too much" power would draw more current from the overall system and thus the foglights.

 

double check your grounds. a bad ground can cause a higher current draw

 

Could be that the installer at Best Buy mess up some harness wiring under the dash. Did go back to check to see any cut connectoin touching any metal or wire. THe amp and sub have nothing to do with blowing fuses. It must be something under the dash causing fuses to blown.

 

MM&Y of car please?

As mentioned, adjusting HU and amp settings will have nothing to do with a fog light fuse blowing.

I would look at wiring for iPod adapter, [power wire]. 94

 

Ok, sorry I haven't replied to this in a while, I got caught up with going back to school etc... I updated my first post. I did discover that the fuse blows when I put the car in reverse as mentioned in my updated first post.

The car is a 2000 Civic EX.

I've looked over the foglight wiring harness a about 10 times already and nothing look out of the ordinary. As you mentined fcm I'll take a look at the power wire for the ipod connector. It's spliced into the 12v constant wire behind my headunit. Maybe the guy that did it didn't splice it in properly or something. I will look tomorrow and report my findings.

Thanks again for your help and time.

 

why dont you try backtracking. Since tunning your amp has nothing to do whatsoever with your fuses blowing, try disconnecting your Ipod addapter and run around like that for a few days see if it keeps blowing the fuse. If it doesnt blow you found your problem.