Fuse #16 blew - No A/C and cooling fans won't shut down.

I replaced the fuse and all is good. A/C is back and fans shut down with ignition off, but now I wonder why.


If members have experienced fuse #16 failure I would love to hear what contributing factor/repairs resolved the the issue.



I will check A/C clutch coil, connector and wiring. Cooling fans work properly and the fuses on top of the battery look factory new.

I believe a shorted clutch coil? (should read several ohms, not shorted) I've seen numerous posts where people's fans have stayed running and found F16 blown, but nobody ever reports back as to what the original cause was - the only one I ever saw was someone pulled and fuse and reinstalled it in the wrong spot.

gforce1108 said:

I believe a shorted clutch coil? (should read several ohms, not shorted) I've seen numerous posts where people's fans have stayed running and found F16 blown, but nobody ever reports back as to what the original cause was - the only one I ever saw was someone pulled and fuse and reinstalled it in the wrong spot.

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That's what I found after doing multiple searches here and on the web. I'll be doing general maintenance soon and I'll check the clutch coil. I believe the clutch coil should meter out at around 30 ohms.

While I'm at it, I might as well clean the electrical connectors on the condenser, fans and FCM. I'm always on the lookout chafed, corroded and broken wires.

I be sure to post here what I find.

I think they tend to run closer to 4 ohms? Honestly I've only ensured it wasn't open (I just reread the AC troubleshooting "sticky" and it says 4 ohms). In your case I would say dead short is bad, anything say in the single digit ohms range is good.

In the 12 years I've had my Golf, it's blown fuse #16 twice. Both times in the summer. I've never found a cause, and once replaced it has always worked for years before it happening again.

scurvy said:

In the 12 years I've had my Golf, it's blown fuse #16 twice. Both times in the summer. I've never found a cause, and once replaced it has always worked for years before it happening again.

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That's good info to know.


I will say my first thought was the A/C clutch was sticky following an all day heavy rain storm then high humid temps. Car doesn't normally sit out, but I left it out to give it a good wash by mother natures soft rain.


Since I replaced the fuse all is well even after a 200 mile road trip using the A/C.



I'll still check everything out when I do fall maintenance.

Usually blown fuse indicates an issue. But once in a while they blow for odd, unknown reasons. As they say, monitor the situation. If something is amiss it'll blow again.

One reason fuses blow that is sometimes not immediately obvious is high resistance at the fuse block terminal themselves. Fuses blow due to *heat* and arcing or high resistance at the terminal will materially decrease the current required to blow them, often below the normal running current of the circuit.