Q: A fuse kills the battery when it is left in.

asked by

Gregory L

on November 12, 2016

When I purchased the car I noticed that the fuse for the cigarette lighter was only halfway in so I inserted it fully in to the fuse box and noticed an under dash light came on. This light never goes off and has an orange wire running directly to the "batt. fused" port. If I leave the cigarette lighter fuse plugged in, the battery dies. If I take it out, I have no cigarette lighter, radio, or hazard lights.

My first question is, should the under dash bulb be there? It doesn't make sense why there would be a bulb under the dash that never turns off.

My second question is, why does the battery die when the cigarette lighter fuse is left plugged in? Is the light bulb drawing enough power to kill the battery?

Note - the battery is a brand new Optima 8022-091-FFP RedTop, the cigarette lighter is brand new and the stereo is currently disconnected but the battery still dies when the fuse is plugged in.

My car has 88000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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Q: A fuse kills the battery when it is left in.

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