Hi - I have a 2016 S-max and the fuse no. 13 under the passenger glove box keeps blowing.

This creates all electrics to shut down and car will not start. Fuse 13 relates to Steering wheel column lock, Cluster, Datalink logic. Put in a new fuse, start the engine, and fuse blows after 10 seconds clearing all displays and electrics.

I tested the amps going through the fuse when the engine is running and it is 28A, far in advance of the 7.5A fuse.

I have no idea what is creating the 28A and ask if anyone has any idea. Thanks, Ian

Hi Ian, firstly I think you need to amend the Year in your profile from 2023 to read 2016 👍

If you have a digital multimeter that can read resistance then you can do a little test to try and pinpoint the area of the fault.

With the ignition off, remove fuse 13 from the fusebox. One side of the fuse holder will be the supply and naturally the other side will be the load. Put the meter on resistance and connect the negative lead to a good solid earth point. Now probe the Load side of the fuse holder with the other lead and I expect if the fault is not present that the resistance to earth will be more than 1.8 ohms. If on the other hand you find the resistance is less than 0.45 ohms then you have established that the fault is permanently there even when the ignition is off.

Let me know what you find and I might be able to give you some places to look.

Thanks - I’ll check that out, and cheers for the profile note - now updated🙂

To add, the other complexity to this is it is a 3 pin fuse.

Disconnect the steering column lock just to prove out it isn't that, it will flag codes, which you can clear afterwards, may even set alarm off, but it could be the electric lock motor going down

3 pin fuse kind of makes it easier. The centre pin will be the supply. You're only interested in the half of the fuse which blows, so check the resistance on that side.

Hi All,
Disconnected steering column lock cable and changed fuse - all worked OK. Put cable back in and same result - lock function worked perfectly 30 seconds after alarming. Testing on and off for a while and no blowing of fuse.

Took for drive locally for 30 mins and no issues. Would prefer to be able to specifically identify the root cause, which clearly seems to be the steering lock but I’ve done nothing to it outside disconnecting and reconnecting it, so could this just be the car/mechanism resetting itself?

Cheers, Ian

To add to your advise Unofix, we checked the resistance beforehand and all appeared normal 🤷🏻‍♂️