Ok time to mention this.
Was driving up the M5 coming home from down south on a sat evening around three weeks ago.

Car driving well(perhaps too well) until i get a funny smell. Cant identify it so continue...Just cruising along 65mph up the motorway.

Next thing within 20-30 sec smoke starts flooding through the drivers vent followed by a huge plume through the gear gaiter.
I pull over and switch the engine off but still smoke bellowing.

Maybe a bit daft and panicking(smoke engulfed then) lift the gaiter and attempt to remove the plugs from all switches. In the process couldn't see a thing..i end up blowing the service fuse with my middle finger on my right hand leaving a nice blood flow and a little chunk missing from it.

Luckily at that point the smoke started to clear as i blew more than one fuse.

I then tried to access the damage. The car started to my surprise,but i had lost all lights,dashboard(clocks,temps,revs etc) most of center console.Indicators gone,windows etc.

Things that did work hazards cigarette lighter and most important of all engine.

So pitch black without lights i limp the coupe with hazards on to Junc 5 and call for recovery.

First truck wouldnt pick me up as he wouldnt risk me driving the car 5 feet onto his wagon as he thought it was a fire risk. Second chap no problem at all.

Recovered and back home in less than 2 hours...great recovery through footman James.

Ok next morning to access the damage



If not clear is seems basically i had a fault somewhere. My fuse didnt blow as it should and my loom inside the console controlling my window switch started to catch fire. The console loom has basically melted and fused itself together.

Roll back two months ish... I hit a bump and fuse had blown.Took out windows stereo and few other items.
I had replaced the fuse with a fuse from a bulb kit i had.

Roll back again..from one pic you can see that the the plastic on the fuse simply melted and didn't blow.Everything just continued to heat up.

The problem two cables went on to the drivers door switch and burnt all the protective sleeving through console loom ,through the white connector and about 1ft up.

Quite scary at the time and have no idea how far it would have gone if i didn't manage to blow these fuses.

Upon checking the other fuses me and Joe found i have various incorrect fuses fitted inc cheap copy fuses it seems.

So guys don't underestimate the fuses your fitting or what's already fitted in the car already.


p.s thank you to Joe (CC) for helping me with a quick fix and replacement original Fiat fuses.

So far for the repair,a new console loom,repair to existing,new switches all around. Drove home perfectly but will be keeping a close eye and if anything become apparent the proper fuses should at least blow now.

Preaching to the converted but a lesson I hope others learn from the pain you, and to an lesser extent I have been though.
A pack of rolson? fuses were defective causing my complete wiper wiring loom to melt

The critical thing with fuses is that they are actually to specification; they should maintain their rated load indefinitely but should fail rapidly once it's exceeded.

There should be no significant differences between fuses - but they should be to DIN 72581/3F specification, ideally marked on the body or packaging.

I think though some cheap fuses have a very poor resolution. I've noticed it a few times in the past (with car audio systems mostly).

Barnacle, does that DIN number cover a quality programme or is there a separate ISO for that?

Don't know, szkom. I don't have access these days to the specs, but it's probably ISO 8820.

Just had a very similar problem, heater stopped working, checked fuses both melted. Not found the fault yet but i will be buying replacement fuses for the whole car as soon as i can! Question is, where from? Anybody know of a good brand/supplier?

ask joe to supply you with the original fiat ones he has.