Every time i put a new fuse in for the radio it blows the fuse right away. The car is off when ever i do this. what would case the fuse to blow the second i put it in. Its also the right fuse so i know thats not the issue.
When the radio is not working, what else is not working? Dash lights? Clock, etc?
I would suspect a short somewhere. Until it’s diagnosed and fixed you’ll keep blowing fuses.
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A direct short to ground
A pinched wire comes to mind . . .
Are you pretty good solving electrical problems?
You’re going to need the wiring diagram for a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer . . . at least the one that shows the radio circuit
And a lot of patience
Did you have any repairs done recently . . . ?!
If you are going to resolve this yourself I strongly suggest that buy a Helm Electrical/Vacuum manual. These can be gotten from Helm directly or often found on eBay at a decent discounted price. These are invaluable in tracking down electrical problems and I personally never go more than 5 minutes deep into an electrical issue without perusing a factory schematic first. Otherwise; it’s wandering in the jungle…
Some on ebay now for 30 or 40 bucks which is far less than new from Helm; and don’t even consider schematics in Chiltons, Haynes, or ALLDATA. As close to garbage as it gets.
I do not have a Helm for your car but a quick look at other similar era Ford Helm manuals of this era leads me to think it will take a bit of time. Since I assume the fuse you mention is the one in the dash fuse panel the other Ford manuals I have show that fuse goes to the ABS monitor, EATC controls, power antenna if so equipped, message center, and instrument panel warning display.
Helm shows the location of all connectors so this means one would have to methodically locate those connectors and unplug them until the short does away. That only gives you the circuit the problem is located in. Could pull the radio as a first step and unplug it just to see if you will get lucky.
I think you are saying that the replacement fuse blows out even with the ignition OFF. This would mean power is applied to whatever that fuse supplies power to, which is most likely more than the radio. The areas that @ok4450 mentioned may be connected to the fuse along with other things possibly. One thing you can do to help locate the trouble is replace the fuse with a brake light bulb. You could use a blown fuse body to make the connections to light if you have the proper stuff. With the light in series with the shorted line, the fault can only draw enough current to run the light. A brake light only needs about 2 amps of current draw. With the light on you then start disconnecting suspected areas and see if the light dims or goes out completely, indicating that the problem circuit is now disconnected. You can then replace the fuse and then see what now doesn’t work. Those are the places that need to be checked for the issue. You can also use an ohmmeter to monitor the load side of the fuse contact and what for a change to higher resistance when the short is removed, using ground as your reference.
You may have amplifiers inside the front doors depending how fancy the audio system is, they may have power on them at all times. A factory wiring manual is your best friend for these kind of problems and are worth the investment to purchase.
The method you describe is the one I use to find direct shorts, with one exception . . .
I use a 12v sealed beam instead of the brake bulb
Using a sealed beam works also, it just draws a lot more current.
I really don’t care about the current draw . . . no offense intended
For one thing, I only need it long enough to find the short to ground
And because a sealed beam is very bright, I can see the glow, even if I’m working on the other end of the car, or maybe underneath
In this case, more light is better, in my opinion
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