Electrial short?

Question

i have a 1989 suburban that keeps blowing my guage fuse
every so often-the guage will blow and i will let it sit for a few days or even a couple of hours and put another fuse in and it will run just fine for a couple of weeks or more-but when the guage fuse blows and i take off my NEG battery cable it will die as if it is a charging problem?-and when the guage fuse is working properly i will take off the NEG battery cable it will stay running-does it sound like i may have a altantor problem over charging-if so then the fuse will blow all the time?-and why does it have to sit for a couple of days before it starts working agin?-does it sound like somthing is getting hot
or a ignition switch problem?

Answer 1

Once your engine runs it is normal that it keeps running with the battery disconnected, take a volt meter, with the engine not running measure the voltage across the battery it should read at least 12 volts, with the engine running you should get between 13.5 to 14.5 volts.
This means your alternator is charging which is what you want.
On some gm models the fuse for the gages and the tail lights is the same check in your rear lights if there are any short circuits. It could be corrosion or salt in the sockets. If it happens more in rainy or humid weather, salt water is a good conductor that 's why waiting sometimes fixes the problem, things dry up.

Answer 2

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but try checking the ground wire between the engine and the frame. Since your computer and gauges are grounded to the frame and the alternator and battery is grounded to the engine, if you don't have a solid connection between the two, a lot of nasty electrical problems can occur.

Answer 3

It won't hurt to put a somewhat larger fuse in to see if that solves the problem. You can go to a 7.5 Amp rather than a 5 Amp fuse or you can put a slow-blow 5 Amp in and try that.