1996 Honda Civic #15 Fuse Blown

This 1996 Honda Civic came in with a complaint of the battery going dead. I checked and sure enough it was not charging and based on experience I checked to see if the speedometer was working. It was not. Knowing that this is a common fault with Civics, I checked to see if fuse #15 was blown in the interior fuse box and it was. Time to rack the car up. The following pictures are from underneath the car looking up past the driver’s side half shaft assembly.

The wires above the bracket that braces the intake to the block commonly rub through the insulation until a short circuit is made.

The bracket is easy to remove, just two bolts.

If you will double click on the following picture you can see where the Black/Yellow wire is melted.

This picture shows where the wire has shorted out against the bracket and left a rusty arc mark.

If you double click on the following picture you can see the bare copper wire exposed on the Black/Yellow wire. I took a short piece of electrical tape and wrapped it around the one wire.

Then I wrapped the harness with friction tape.

I also wrapped the bracket with friction tape. I installed the bracket and a new wire tie for the harness attached to it. Replaced the fuse and checked the system. All okay.

Update: Although the harness rubbing on the bracket in this article is a very common problem on these vehicles, there have been several reports in the comments that Civic owners are finding shorted oxygen sensors as another cause of fuse #15 blowing. So you may want to check the wiring around the oxygen sensors to make sure they are not shorting out on the exhaust. If no problem is found there disconnect the oxygen sensor wiring to see if the short will go away.

79 discussions on “1996 Honda Civic #15 Fuse Blown”

  1. Check all of your fuses first. Look for blown and or missing fuses. If that does not help you will probably have an immobilizer issue. At that point you will need a scan tool and the assistance of a trained/experienced mechanic to help with your problem

  2. Hello.. I have a 1998 civic ej9 1.4is…
    I sort-off have te same problem with the fuse …
    My big problem is that the car is NOT starting? It has gas and it sparks …but the injectors dont open.
    The CEL was on … Now when I crank the engine …it crankc but the Key green light(the immobiliser light) is not lighting or blinking. What do you think is the problem?? I replaced the #15 fuse .

  3. Having same problem!I took the car two places!first guy replaced speed sensor and nothing happened!second guy wanted change the alternator but I didnt let him after I saw this post.tomorrow I’ll take car Honda dealer and let them know about wires before they change something not even bad!let you know how goes!

  4. First, do not ever pull a battery cable loose while and engine is running. It is an old wives tale left over from generators. Doing so can destroy multiple electronics on a vehicle. Second if fuse #15 is blowing, most of the time the short will be exactly where I outlined in the article. Third the alternator will not charge properly with fuse #15 blown.

  5. Hey guys,

    I just got the same issue too, lights pulsating, odometer going crazy, and while driving the car it revs up and down as well.

    fuse 15 is blown, but i also noticed that when the car is running, if i disconnect the negative battery cable the car will shut off instantaneously. Is this happening because fuse#15 is blown and the wires are shorted? or is it because i actually have a bad alternator too?

    how could i tell the difference and see what the real cause of the problem is?

    Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    -JV

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