The Fuse Mystery

01 Mar 2013

I have a Peugeot 207 SW. During the recent bout of crappy weather I needed to clean my windscreen but when I tried to use the screen wash nothing happened. I must have assumed at the time that there was no water in the reservoir. The next time my brain remembered this fact I filled up the reservoir with fresh clear water. When I went to use the screen wash nothing happened.

Oh dear I though, something more serious must be wrong. After the initial panic (pound signs started to appear before my eyes) I decided to check the fuse. I checked Google and ready the owner’s manual (don’t snigger) and discovered fuse 3 was the one I needed to replace (assuming it was faulty). I opened the bonnet and located the fuse box and discovered that fuse 3 had indeed blown. To verify this I needed another 10 amp fuse.

I had a quick look in the owners manual to see if there were any spares in the fuse box and although it didn’t exactly specify that it was spare a 10 amp fuse was in position 20 which didn’t seem to be documented and therefore had no purpose i.e. spare. So I took the fuse from position 20 and placed it in position 3. I started the car and hey presto the washers worked. Job done, all I needed was a replacement fuse so I went to the local automotive suppliers and bough myself 2 just in case. As the car was running fine (and I say that in hindsight) I couldn’t be bothered / didn’t think it was urgent to put a replacement fuse back into position 20.

I went on holiday shortly after this and the car was very sluggish although at the time I put it down to the fact it was fully laden (cases, kids, dog etc.) I’m not a fast driver anyway and put it down to perception. When I returned and went back to work the issue became more apparent. Although the car would accelerate up to 60 mph it would take ages and flooring it did nothing. Once again those pesky pound signs started to appear before my eyes. There were no warning lights nothing else was wrong. Did I get a dodgy tank of fuel. I remembered I hadn’t replaced the fuse in position 20 but surely that couldn’t be the issue. To find out I fitted a new fuse into position 20. What a difference, the car was back to normal - responsive and not sluggish any more.

I re-checked the owner’s manual and there was no mention of a fuse 20 so what the bloody hell is it for?