A warning to anyone using fuse taps in the main fuse box
Some of you may have seen my thread earlier about the window switch "locking" the TB, causing my car not to start. I determined that wasn't the problem, but was still struggling to find the issue. The car would sometimes start and sometimes it wouldn't. The biggest thing I'd notice is that the fuel pump would never engage and I'd hear the clicking noise.
So I pop the hood and start playing with the fuses/relays and then voila, the car would start. But it's obvious that none of them are bad, so what's the problem?
Then it dawned on me. I'm planning on installing new gauges here pretty soon and it required the use of a larger fuseblock. So I wouldn't have to run wiring to the engine, I opted to use the switched power sources in the SJB (the box on the passenger side kick panel). So I removed the wiring that was running to the fusebox, since it wasn't necessary anymore. This included the fuse tap that I used.
What it looks like is that the fuse tap will "stretch" the contacts for the fuse/relay and cause it to not seat properly when you remove it. This is a quick way to make things not work. I haven't determined exactly which one it is, but it will be easy to narrow down since there were only two used, but it looks like the tap will have to be replaced to ensure proper contact is made.
So, long story short, be careful if you ever use these taps in the main fusebox!!
You're telling me. I was real close to putting this thing on the market. I almost think I'd rather have catastrophic failure as opposed to these little nitpicky things happening all the time. The wallet would hurt more, but at least I'd know for sure what the problem was.
At least I was the problem and not the car. That makes me feel a bit better....
Can someone translate this into "electrically-challenged person" for me???
Sounds important!!!
And good to hear you found out what was causing the problem, bw!
a fuse tap is a little piece of metal that either wraps around one tab of the fuse or has a spade that sits parallel to it, allowing you to plug in to a power source and have a spade terminal that you can plug a wire into. It's the cheap and horrible way to grab power or to tap into a circuit. What the OP is saying is, if you do it, the socket the fuse sets in will be widened by the tap, so when you remove the tap, the fuse will not make a good connection..
It's like plugging a plug with a really thick terminal into an electrical outlet.. the outlet will now be loose whenever you plug a normal plug into it.
There is an added danger of using a fuse tap.. if you plug into the hot side of the fuse, you are now on an unfused connection. If you plug a wire in to the tap, and it shorts out, you can easily cause a fire. Even if you fuse the wire, you will have a short piece of small gauge, unfused wire that is exposed and can potentially be pinched or cut, causing a big problem.
If you go to the fused side, you will probably overload the fuse as it is rated for whatever circuit it protects already, and added draw may blow the fuse. If you then put a larger fuse in, you could potentially overload the wire that feeds the circuit, and have a fire as well.
It is best to either connect directly to the battery or a 12volt lug, fuse it, then run it where you need it. If you need accessory power (key on 12 volts, key off 0 volts), there are a number of good circuits to tie into (ie cigarrette lighter if it's keyed, radio accessory, etc - be sure to fuse the wire), but the best way is to tap an accessory circuit and use a relay, getting your main power source from the battery.
3M makes a wire "t-tap" that works great, especially when you use an insulated spade to connect the wire, then fuse it as close to the spade as you can. I used them for 10 years professionally and never had a problem. Much safter than fuse taps. If the wire is bigger than 16 ga. that you need to connect to, strip off a section of the insulation and solder your wire to it, then wrap it really well with electrical tape.
If you can't tap a wire properly yourself, take it to a pro.. it isn't worth burning your car down to save a few dollars or a few minutes.
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2006 GT Premium Vert, 5 spd, Tungsten Grey Show: Painted gloss black stripes, Street Scene Gen 1 body kit, side and hood scoops, CDC light bar, sequential tails, purple underglow, 8" shorty antenna, redline hood struts, Steeda Ultralights, 20" Chrome Killers, S.O.S. pillar & 3 gauges. Go: J&M LCA's & Adj. UCA, J&M Adj. Panhard, CHE LCA reloc brackets & torque limiters, 3.73 gears, Kenne Bell Stage 1 2.6l supercharger.
...440rwhp/401rwtq
And it actually gets worse (or better depending on how you look at it).
I decided to take the fusebox apart to see if there was any way I could compress the contacts closer to each other. This isn't feasible because of the design, but what was even more disturbing was that when I turned the box on it's side, a couple of the relays started to come out, ON THEIR OWN! These are ones that I never even tapped as well.
I know there was a thread way back when talking about making sure your fuses were seated properly and this is certainly why. Not that your car should ever be upside down or on it's side, but the fact that a couple of posts can come out and lose contact so easily is disturbing; to me at least.
I might try and cut a piece of foam or something similar and glue it to the inside of the cover. It would be a good way to keep them in place. At the very least, I'll be giving the box a good once over probably on a weekly basis now. Can't see what it would hurt.
I'll be using a Painless Wiring fuse block. I'm going to be running 5 gauges and the nitrous off of it. It would be a complete headache to try and power all of it without one, but what I might do is run an add-a-fuse similar to what you showed me in-line with the block to potentially avoid this.
And I think this problem is only in the main fuse box. I've never heard of people having a problem like this using the SJB.
A warning to anyone using fuse taps in the main fuse box 
