# Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix?



## SeatIbiza1.8T (Sep 4, 2002)

The topic came through the Car Lounge.
I used to have as my screen name suggests, a Seat Ibiza 1.8T, I sold the car because I could never solve the fuse issue (overheating)...
I am considering a 1.8T again when I sell my 300ZX TT, however I was at the shop today taking my dad,s Passat and there where two (2) Audi A3 1.8Ts (previous gen) and an Audi TT 1.8T, all with the same issue.
The thing is that when I search within the tex archives, the problem solver seems to be changing out the fuse box on top of the battery, however I did this twice and the fuse just kept melting over and over again...
Is there a definitive answer to this age old 1.8T in warm weather dilemma? 








Thanks for the help!!
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Edit, Pic for clicks!








*UPDATE:*
After some follow up and searching this post seems to sum it up:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3505027

_Quote, originally posted by *magman* »_I had this same issue, over heating, fuses blowing and in the end the fuse holder melting.
It turned out to be the two electrical fans were constantly running in high speed. (They are 2 speed fans) The local stealership swapped out both fans and fixed the issue.
It took them 18 months to figure out what was happening so don't expect too much from your local dealership.



_Modified by SeatIbiza1.8T at 10:42 PM 10-3-2008_


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## Boostin20v (Mar 22, 2000)

I've not seen anyone post about that here or have I heard about it else where till your post.
Were there any other issues with your old car when this would happen?


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## TheOutsider (Sep 19, 2006)

*Re: (Boostin20v)*

I was getting ABS faults and now my fans dont kick on sometime. Its that fuse box. Ive talked to a lot of locals that have had that issue. Also my roommate ran into those issues at VW with few 1.8Ts. If yours keeps melting its prob a wirintg issue. You are getting too much voltage somewhere (short ect)


_Modified by TheOutsider at 12:19 AM 5-24-2007_


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## fast_a2_20v (Jun 25, 2004)

amperage. 
Find out why you are drawing so many amps on that circuit path. If its not actually a fault causing it (not likely) then I would add an extra power circuit and switch some stuff over onto that one.


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## Seanathan (May 1, 2002)

*Re: (TheOutsider)*

I'm having some of the same issues with mine. Lovely ABS light.


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## SeatIbiza1.8T (Sep 4, 2002)

*Re: (Seanathan)*

Suppossedly in Europe a lot of SEATs have the same issue; from what I have read they fault the design affirming that too much hot air from the fans creates a lot of heat under the hood, however I don't buy this explanation because in said case all of the fuses would melt, not just one.
One of the fixes they came up with in Austria was using steel fuses, however I have not heard of these ever, I don't even know if they exist.
This problem is very very VERY common in warm weather in older 1.8Ts.
More input?







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## NashGTI (Mar 8, 2006)

*Re: (SeatIbiza1.8T)*

honestly, you may have a cooling fan issue, and thatd be the first place id go. for whatever reason those fuses dont seem to blow, we had a car where the wiring to the fan caught fire after the fans movement was obstructed, however the fuse was fine.
another thing that happens with those fuse boxes is a malfuntioning alternator has caused a lot of those boxes to melt without blowing the fuse to it.


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## SeatIbiza1.8T (Sep 4, 2002)

*Re: (NashGTI)*


_Quote, originally posted by *NashGTI* »_honestly, you may have a cooling fan issue, and thatd be the first place id go. for whatever reason those fuses dont seem to blow, we had a car where the wiring to the fan caught fire after the fans movement was obstructed, however the fuse was fine.
another thing that happens with those fuse boxes is a malfuntioning alternator has caused a lot of those boxes to melt without blowing the fuse to it.

Interesting! Nevertheless, when I had the car I had the fan swapped out because it also took a poop; after that we did an addaptation and wired 30A fuse, but one of the "bigger ones", it's about 3 or 4 times the size, it would bet really hot but it would'nt melt, it would however give the worst of smells...


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## Zealot (Mar 9, 2003)

*Re: (SeatIbiza1.8T)*

I have that same problem with that fuse. It never blows, but it will get hot enough to melt the surrounding plastic, which coats the prongs and breaks the circuit. I talk with a few mechanic friends, and they said I may have a fan going bad that is pulling too much amperage. I haven't had time yet, but soon I will run some tests to see how much amperage that circuit is pulling.


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## petesell (May 7, 2002)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (SeatIbiza1.8T)*

this happened to me last summer. i thought it was a fluke, but i guess we'll throw it on the pile of little BS issues put the 1.8T such a pain in the ass to own. anyone with any fan problems should always check the fuse box first.


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## loxxrider (Oct 31, 2005)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (petesell)*

I dont know if this is what you were looking for, but here is what I did after mine melted. I haven't had a problem since.


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## SeatIbiza1.8T (Sep 4, 2002)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (loxxrider)*


_Quote, originally posted by *loxxrider* »_I dont know if this is what you were looking for, but here is what I did after mine melted. I haven't had a problem since.









Hmmmm, good info, looks similar to what my mech did to my Beezer, he attached a bigger fuse though (still 30A, just bigger in size), the issue is that it would get really hot and would smell like burnt plastic if you opened the hood... I thought it was kinda of getto non-definite fix; but it looks like it's the only way...


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## thegreg (Jan 21, 2006)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (SeatIbiza1.8T)*

if that is indeed the fuse for the cooling fan system i would look into the fan motors. when electric motors start to go bad they draw more and more current until they finally go bad... really do try and use a bigger fuse to make this problem go away. if you do obviously your car could catch fire... http://****************.com/smile/emthdown.gif


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## SeatIbiza1.8T (Sep 4, 2002)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (thegreg)*


_Quote, originally posted by *thegreg* »_if that is indeed the fuse for the cooling fan system i would look into the fan motors. when electric motors start to go bad they draw more and more current until they finally go bad... really do try and use a bigger fuse to make this problem go away. if you do obviously your car could catch fire... http://****************.com/smile/emthdown.gif 

Learn to read bud, as I stated (it was still a 30A fuse, just bigger in SIZE)... As also stated before, I switched the fan-motor...


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## thegreg (Jan 21, 2006)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (SeatIbiza1.8T)*

that statement wasn't soley ment for you.... it seems like a few people are having this problem and rerouting the fuse wiring isn't exactly the best fix for this problem. i was just giving some insight to people who might not understand electricity, electric motors, and what happpens when they do go bad... bud...


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## 11:11 (Jan 23, 2006)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (thegreg)*

I'm having the same prob
It seems like this is common prob in VW cars
I read somewhere that we need to change our fans
The fans should be able to spin at 2 speed, slow and fast
Ours can only spin at fast speed
thats the reason why it keeps melting the fuse
I'd be really interested if anyone knows any alternative to VW's fans which cost +$200ish




_Modified by 11:11 at 2:45 PM 10-7-2007_


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## SeatIbiza1.8T (Sep 4, 2002)

*Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (11:11)*

After some follow up and searching this post seems to sum it up:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3505027

_Quote, originally posted by *magman* »_I had this same issue, over heating, fuses blowing and in the end the fuse holder melting.
It turned out to be the two electrical fans were constantly running in high speed. (They are 2 speed fans) The local stealership swapped out both fans and fixed the issue.
It took them 18 months to figure out what was happening so don't expect too much from your local dealership.


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## Tinman63 (Jun 17, 2016)

*2003 Jetta TDI Fuse box melting fix*

I had the same issue with the fuse box melting. I replaced the alternator cable, the battery wire to the fuse box, and 3 times replaced the fuse box. Each time it lasted about 2-3 months. I disassembled the fuse box and determined the fuse contacts did not have enough surface contact to carry the load. Poor design. I did away with the Micky mouse fuses and installed glass fuses with equivalent rating. Do this one wire at a time. That was 3 years ago and still no issues with fuse box melting.


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## King Y.O.D.A (Dec 15, 2021)

SeatIbiza1.8T said:


> *Re: Overheating and the all famous battery fuse box, definitive fix? (loxxrider)*
> 
> 
> _Quote, originally posted by *loxxrider* »_I dont know if this is what you were looking for, but here is what I did after mine melted. I haven't had a problem since.
> ...


Looks like that mechanic is smarter than the engineers at VW I mean look at how many different cars use this same flawed design


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