Replace an Automotive Fuse
Fuses are extremely important electronic components. In your car, fuses serve to protect the different electronic devices in case there is an unexpected power surge. Should something like this happen, the fuse will “blow” and stop the extra electricity from reaching the particular device. Replacing a fuse is very easy and can be done by people with little or no prior experience.
Steps
- Turn off the car. The first and most important step before doing any electrical work on your car is to turn it off.
- Find the fuse box. Now you can proceed looking for the fuse box. On most cars, it is either in the glove box or under it. You should not have to take anything apart in order to access it. There will, however, be a cover that you just pop open, but you won’t need any tools for that. A lot of cars have more than one fuse boxes. There is a chance that the one you are looking for is not in the car. In this case, it is most likely located in the engine compartment.
- Find the cover. After you have located the fuse box, find the cover and remove it. There must be a guide telling you what each fuse is for. It is usually printed on the cover itself.
- Find the blown fuse. If you have ever seen a regular light bulb that has burned out, you will be to quickly identify the fuse you need to change. It looks very similar because the metal strip that is inside will be broken. Apart from that, the fuse might be slightly blackened.
- Remove the fuse. It should be easy to just pinch it with your fingers, but if it seems to be stuck or too difficult to grab with fingers, you can use a small screwdriver or ideally the “fuse remover” that many cars come with. This remover should be located in one of the slots.
- Don’t throw the fuse away. Take it to a specialized store and ask for a replacement, or just look at its specifications and get one online.
- Replace the fuse. Put the new one in the slot where the old one was and push. It should easily snap into place.
- Test everything. Now that you have replace the fuse, it is time to start the car and see if whatever the fuse was responsible for is now working whether it’s your radio, interior lights or fan, for example.
- Replace the cover. After you have made sure that everything works normally, simply put the fuse box cover back on.
