Help and advice with fusable links

[Dewy]

Today i went to start my van and nothing. no click, no turnover and no lights. so i checked the battery and saw that the white housing around a fuseable link melted. the one that goes from the black box marked lights and ignition connected to the positive lead on the battery to the starter and the main lights. two white wires - one with a thick red line and the other a thin brown line.

So I went to the local auto shop picked a 12 inch fuseable link wire (14 gauge - based on an eyeball guess of thickness) along with a crimper kit. back to the van. cracked off the old housing as it was useless. crimped two 3 inch wires with connectors on either end. hooked it up and the van started ... sweet.

then while driving home tonite. i had my radio on, the windshield wipers going, turned on my high beams and the interior light in the back went on, touched the brakes and then no lights at all. i was then driving in the dark along an unlit winding road with the rain pissing down. so i drove with my night vision goggles on to my friends house who lived a couple miles away and borrowed his vehicle to get home. but before leaving i checked to see if the van would still start and it did so that link is still working i believe.

so back to the van tomorrow. so my questions are;
1. are fuseable link wires. 12 or 14 gauge?
2. with the lights being wonky could i have crossed the wires with the ignition still working?
3. does it matter if i don't use the same/original housing for the fuseable link wires?
4. why would the fuseable link melt in the first place? is that only a symptom of something bigger?
5. is there anything else i should look at while tinkering away in there?

any tips/advice is much appreciated.

this van has been an adventure.... and a big learning curve on diesel engines.

thanks again.

[thedjjack]

You have night vision goggles

what was the question????

I would not use fuseable links impossible to fix...I would switch to breakers that you can reset

[Artacoma]

I swapped my fusible links with regular 12 gauge wire when my L300 was acting all uppitty . Most of the connectors in the battery compartment looked pretty fried, I replaced a few with generic connectors and cleaned up the rest and all was fine.
This was before a Victoria - Halifax road trip and there were no issues. Every L300 I've seen looks bit cooked around the batteries.
Make sure that any new electrical loads are on there own fuses and are not overloading existing circuits

[Dewy]

yes my imaginary night goggles!

rik-thanks for that. i will try a 12 gauge instead because i think i overloaded that one circuit and then it was good nite.

[thedjjack]

fuseable links serve a purpose put in circuit breakers or you risk an electrical fire...

Delicas burn good...

[TardisDeli]

When the interior lights went on when you turned on the High beams sounds like a poor or no ground somewhere , and when you say you replaced the fusible links at a white connector box ,don't you mean the black fusible link box, the white plastic connecter is coming from the fusible link box and is just plain wire and not fusible wire. I've seen two Delis have the white connector contacts burn out.Cheers Jay Tardis Deli