Club 80-90 Forums

I've noticed my van has the older torpedo fuse box and much to my annoyance as the heater/wiper share the same fuse it likes to blow when both are running at ful tilt. I know there is a guide out there to split them to use two different fuses, however..

I wanna work on tiding and replacing any suspect wires on my explorations. Would it be worth swapping to a late bladed fuse box? Has anyone done this if it is even worth doing?

It’s a big job, you will need a complete front loom from a late van , because there are quite a few differences besides the actual connectors to the later fuse box , not a viable job in my opinion

Splitting the wipers away from the heater motor is easy enough on the early fuse board , it’s not the solve to your problem tho, it’s just solving the symptom to your heater motor pulling more amps that it should because it’s on it’s way out ....

Mocki wrote:It’s a big job, you will need a complete front loom from a late van , because there are quite a few differences besides the actual connectors to the later fuse box , not a viable job in my opinion

Splitting the wipers away from the heater motor is easy enough on the early fuse board , it’s not the solve to your problem tho, it’s just solving the symptom to your heater motor pulling more amps that it should because it’s on it’s way out ....

Figured, Another reason I thought about the fuse box swap was because I want intermittent wipers so adding the relay in I'd honestly prefer it to be in the fuse box, rather than attached somewhere like the steering column like on the wiki page.

Eh.. Well I'm going to be pulling the dash out anyway soon to check the heater box.. it's whistling through the vents at speed so I am guessing the foam on the flaps is all dead. I assume I can just check the motor to see how much it's pulling?

to be honest, if you are having the dash out and the heater box to bits, replace the motor now, then its done .... or you have to take it all out again to inevitably change it

You can fit a wiper relay to the early fuse box in relay position 5 you just have to run the wires to it. If you have the auxiliary fuse box next to the main fuse box you should have a spare fuse to use for the heater.

Mocki wrote:to be honest, if you are having the dash out and the heater box to bits, replace the motor now, then its done .... or you have to take it all out again to inevitably change it

Fair enough, what about the wiper motor though, would that cause the same/similar issue if it was on the way out?

bigherb wrote:You can fit a wiper relay to the early fuse box in relay position 5 you just have to run the wires to it. If you have the auxiliary fuse box next to the main fuse box you should have a spare fuse to use for the heater.

To be honest it's what I'll do at somepoint as it's the right place for it. But right now I wanna get a bit more confident with wiring and also do other stuff in the front of the van before that.
When you say auxiliary fuse box, do you mean the couple of fuses attached to the main box to the right in a clear / white (i think) case?

Stesaw wrote:

Mocki wrote: When you say auxiliary fuse box, do you mean the couple of fuses attached to the main box to the right in a clear / white (i think) case?

Yes

Yeah, if I recall there are two, and they are taken not sure what by... but there are wires coming from em. I'm gonna be doing A LOT of wire tracing and stuff when I get the dash out just to figure out what goes where and if there is any dodgy suspect wires.

Mocki wrote: When you say auxiliary fuse box, do you mean the couple of fuses attached to the main box to the right in a clear / white (i think) case?

no I didn’t ! Lol