"no fuse" light came on!!!

[hermtm2]

Hi.

My 2002 PT which is 110k on it wasn't stared because of out of batter. I replaced a battery on last night. After that the small panel showed me "no fuse" sign. What is it? I don't have an owner's manual. Would let me what I can do?

Thanks.

[CREWZIN]

Found this in a search of the Do-it-yourself forums:

I'm experiencing an electrical problem. The dome light, radio, mirrors, power locks, remote power locks are inoperable. The dash panel keeps flashing "no fuse." I've check each fuse and they appear to be OK. - Anonymous

Check fuse #18 (20amp, yellow) in the Power Distribution Center box under the hood. This fuse has a plastic pull-tab on it. It's used to control Ignition-Off Draw = IOD. The fuse is pushed in when you take delivery of the vehicle. The owners' manual explains that it's used to keep the battery from draining during extended storage. If it's blown, you will need to determine what caused it to blow. This 20a fuse won't blow unless you've added a load to the circuit or there is a component failure. It doesn't take much to blow the fuse, the addition of a stereo or alarm, or even the power window modification, if you wired it into that circuit. If you haven't added an additional load, and the vehicle self-tests check out OK, dealer service will need to diagnose the problem.

[hermtm2]

I just doubt when the battery was out, my friends tried to jump it from their car. At that time they wired wrong way which is + to -, - to +, so the cable got hot when I touched. I took it off immediatly then connected right way. The car was started. Did the stupit things cause the "no fuse" problem?
Thanks.

[CREWZIN]

I can't believe you put "student" in under the OCCUPATION catagory....anyway,

Your lucky your "friends" didn't fry the computer with a stunt like that. Did you check the #18 fuse in the engine compartment like the response said? if it's good, take the negative battery cable off for a few minutes. That will clear the code for now when you put the cable back again. Start and run your PT and see if the code/no fuse comes back on.

[hermtm2]

I checked all the fuses which is inside car. They are all good. And then I tried to check fuses in engine compartment. They are also good. But the interior light and radio don't work now. And it stll shows "no fuse" sign to me. What I can do to next?

[CREWZIN]

Well, I think I found the answer to your problem.......

IOD fuse issues

I recently had the original battery on my 2003 PT Cruiser GT finally go bad and I replaced it. In the process of it dying, I lost my interior lights, the memory on the trip odometer, my power locks, my remote key fob capability, my radio/CD player, and the odometer display showed a "NO FUSE" message alternating with the overall mileage reading. The car still ran fine, but it was obvious I had blown a fuse or fuses.

Online, there were references to the IOD fuse, but no clear answer on what it truly affected and how to replace it (since it's in a protective clip you pull up). Here's the scoop:

1) I bought a fuse tester/puller at a local auto parts store, which enabled me to individually pull all the fuses that were labled as having anything to do with the interior lights, radio, or locks. This included those in the fuse box by the driver's left knee inside the car and a 40 amp fuse up in the power distribution box under the hood. All checked out good, so I strongly suspected the IOD was the culprit.

2) I never did find anything in the manual or online that said exactly what that fuse affects, other than it is used during initial transport from the factory to dealers to minimize the drain on the battery by pulling it up. I know it affects at least the following systems:

- Interior dome/reading lights (the dash lights, head- and tail-lights still work)
- Power locks (both the door switches and the remote fob capability)
- Radio/CD/Cassette player (though the unit will still show trim lighting)
- The trip odometer memory (which would reset each time the car was shut down)

3) The yellow 20-amp IOD fuse is in the fuse box (power distribution center) under the hood and just behind the air filter housing. It stands out because it is encased in a protective clip that allows you to pull it up to break the circuit, but leave it in place for transport and not get lost. The challenge is getting it out of that clip. To make it a bit easier to access, I removed the housing top to the air filter, which is simple (disengage the clips on the left side and the right front side, and then the screw holding the retaining ring on the rubber hose on the back left side).

4) Taking a very small, thin screwdriver that I use for glasses screws worked well. You'll see a small rectangle opening in the top (where you'll be able to read the "20" on the fuse). I think a small curved tip screwdriver would work, too. Take the tip of your screwdriver and insert it in the opening, with the pressure up under the left side of the opening (the top is actually hinged, with the left side being where it clips down in place and the plastic hinges on the right). It takes a little effort, and I used my left hand to try and help unclip the left side of the clip while I applied the out/lifting pressure with the screwdriver. After a while I got it, and the top opened up to allow access to the fuse.

5) Took out the fuse, tested it--it was bad. Popped in a new yellow 20 amp mini fuse, closed the top of the clip, reinserted the fuse into the fuse box by gently pushing down, and then checked things in the car. Voila! I had everything restored.
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NOW, according to my owners manual in my 2001 the IOD fuse is 15amp and it's Light Blue and it's number #17 in the under the hood fuse box, so that's different from the explanation above. So you'll have to find the IOD fuse in your particular year PT. Since yours is a 2002, it might be the same as mine.

[hermtm2]

I fixed the problem now. All of the fuses under the hood were Ok except for the IOD fuse. It made me a little bother to be taken out. After the fuse was replaced, everything is fine now. Thanks a lot~~~

[nicodemusn]

I registered to this forum for the sole purpose of thanking Crewzin for this thread. I had the same problem and was about to give up and take my car to the dealer until I found this thread. Thanks.

[richieb59]

I want to thank you very much for your thread concerning the IOD fuse. I changed mine and it fixed the problem for a couple of days and now my radio light has started to go on and off again. I am wondering if it could be the fuse going out again or a more serios proble. This is how it started last time. Have you had any issues of it reoccuring?

[mr_ed]

Are there any other tests to do or this 'No fuse' problem? I have checked my IOD fuse which is fine and just tried disconnecting the battery but the problem is still there, only got it yesterday