Volkswagen Passat Forum banner

99 Passat Won't Start because Fuse #14 keeps blowing

26K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  TheColoradoRed 
#1 ·
I have a 99 Passat that seems to have a problem with Fuse #14. A few months ago, I went to start my car, and the engine wouldn't even crank. I turned the key, and nothing happened, except my dashboard panel lights all came on. My interior lights, power windows and remote entry didn't work.

After doing some forum research, I narrowed my issue down to Fuse #14 being blown. I replaced the 10 amp fuse, and my car started right up. Over the course of the last few months, that fuse has blown about 5 times. Every time I replace the fuse, my car starts right up. At this point, I'm worried there is a larger issue.. which is.. Why does this fuse keep blowing?

Does anybody have an idea on why Fuse 14 would keep blowing? Also, I've heard that I could replace that 10 amp fuse with a higher amperage fuse, and that may keep it from getting overloaded. My Passat owner's manual specifically says not to do that. Should I avoid doing this as well?
 
#4 ·
Fuse 14 is for the comfort contol module (CCM). It also supplies positive to the remote key unlocking switch for the trunk and trunk unlock switch on the drivers door. Unless you have some mods that have tapped this positive, a larger fuse is not the answer. The only load should be the CCM. Any water / moisture under your driver's side carpet? Check the wiring harness to the CCM for bad connections and the wiring to the switches.
 
#7 ·
Thanks everybody for the replies back to this post! I appreciate it. I have not done any type of mods to my vehicle. The only thing in my vehicle that is not stock is my radio. I had a serius(sp?) sattellite radio installed about 2 years ago, but that's it. This problem didn't start happening until 3-4 months ago.

On the subject of the overhead interior lighting, that all seems to be working fine as long as the fuse isn't blown...once the fuse blows, I lose all interior lighting. I did notice before fuse 14 started to blow, that when I opened my drivers side door, the interior lights no longer came on, but when I opened any of the other 3 doors, the interior lights came on. Do you suppose there could be a relationship between that and fuse 14 getting overloaded? Can you give me more details on what was happening with your overhead dome lighting that was causing your fuse 14 to blow? Was the wiring bad? Was one wire touching another that was causing it to short?

I'll make sure to only keep 10 amps in that fuse slot. Sounds like the risk of adding more amperage far outweighs the reward.

This situation is confusing, and sporattic, so I'm at a loss. I really appreciate all the input I've received from this forum. Thanks!
 
#9 ·
Ok,

Chasing shorts in your system can be a bit of a pain in the butt. But I would rule out the obvious first....

I'm guessing that you had the Sirius satellite radio was professionally installed and that the installers tapped the #14 fuse because of it being linked with the ignition. Possibly (potentially) overloading the circuit.

reference: http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214648&highlight=fuse

Some troubleshooting:
When does the circuit blow?
Before you come up to car or did it happen prior to the previous shutdown and you didn't notice the lack of overhead lighting or puddle lights from the doors?

Do you turn your Sirius off before turning the car off, or do you leave it on?


Your interior light not coming when the driver's side door is open is most likely a broken pin on the electrical circuit board located within the door. If you're handy with a soldering iron it's a cheap fix.

link:
http://www.taligentx.com/passat/maintenance/doorlockmechanism/
 
#10 ·
As for the overhead lighting, theres a small piece of metal that connects two contacts that sits above the little plastic slider. Somehow, the plastic slider fell out, and the metal piece t hen started moving around up i nside the dome area. Dont know what exactly shorted up there though, but the interior lights would definately be where id start.
 
#11 ·
ok.. thanks to some feedback in this forum, I think I might be on the right track.

I focused on the interior lighting as suggested in this thread. I remember that the courtesy light(is that what you call the puddle light?) under the passenger side door had been cracked a while ago. Over time, the entire light assembly has taken a beating to the point where it just kind of "hangs" there. I've never paid any attention to it, because I never cared that it was broken. Well, I took that assembly out, and it was so badly damaged that there wasn't even a bulb hooked to the assembly. There is a good amount of metal that comprises that courtesy light assembly. My thinking is that every now and then, when the passenger door is opened and closed, this jars the assembly, which is just loosely hanging there. If the assembly is jarred enough, metal could be touching other metal inside that assembly, causing fuse 14 to short out.

I came to this conclusion because the fuse never seems to have any issues when I drive the car, only for my wife. I drive the car to work everyday, and it's never shorted out on me. In that scenario, I never have any passengers. My wife, however, has had this happen to her on about 5 different occasions. Everytime she has driven it, she's had passengers in her car. The only time the fuse has blown while I was driving was when my wife was a passenger with me.

I removed the entire courtesy light assembly for now until I can get a brand new one. I also have not had fuse 14 blow on me since I've done that. Granted, that was just this morning, so I'm not out of the woods yet, but hopefully, that will be the issue.

What do you think? Is my guess logical?
 
#14 ·
Just as a follow up for any user wondering if my troubleshooting was correct... Fuse 14 still has not blown since I took out the damaged courtesy light assembly. It appears that I was correct on my troubleshooting assumption. What a load off my mind!
 
#16 ·
Wow...PassatWorld to the rescue again! I had this same problem yesterday...power windows and remote quit working, then I noticed that the car wouldn't start. After blowing three fuses in the #14 position, I found this post and read the part about the slide switch. A couple of months ago, the switch in my car broke. Today I disconnected the dome light connector, replaced the fuse, and voila...it starts!!! Thanks for the pointer, kawasakiguy!!!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top