Remove the main relay and turn the ignition key. If fuse 44 still blows, then you have a short in the WHT/BLK wire between fuse 44 and the main relay. If the fuse does not blow, then the short is downstream of the main relay in the circuit.

 

there is an aftermarket radio in it so i guess i'll go out and try to remove the radio. it was installed with the proper radio harness so can i just pull the radio fuse from under the dash?

 

Not likely related.

 

the fuse does not blow with the main relay removed.....whats downstream of this relay that could be causing it to blow the instant the ignition circuit gets power?

 

could it be the fuel pump shorting out? my gf says that in the couple of days before this issue that it would sputter for a split second...barely noticable....and only once or maybe twice in a whole day of driving. its basically down to fuel pump or fuel injectors isnt it?

 

Well, the final destination for the circuit after passing through the main relay is the ECU. Remove ECU connectors A and B and look for signs of short circuiting (burning) on both the connector and ECU sides.

Edit: The circuit also branches to the fuel injectors, so look there as well.

 

i have checked the ecu and the connectors and even replaced it with a spare i had kicking around and all seems to be fine there....according to the schematic i have from the haynes manual there is one terminal on that main power relay that goes direct to the fuel pump...its the yel/grn wire. i guess if i grabbed 7 fuses and isolated it one wire at a time i could pin it down to at least one wire coming out of the main power relay eh?

 

Wow, you have a lot of useful spare parts laying around!

No, the fuel pump is on a separate circuit. The problem circuit serves to activate the fuel pump circuit in the main relay but is not actually part of it. Keep in mind that you could have a shorted wire between the main relay and ECU or fuel injectors. This can be sorted out with continuity tests using a multimeter. One or more of the fuel injectors might also have a short circuit.

 

Assuming that you don't have a D16Y5 engine, here are relevant circuit diagrams from the manual:

 

the haynes manual has the 7 terminals on the main relay labelled as such:

one terminal blk wire goes to ground.
second terminal yel/grn wire goes to fuse 13 which doesnt blow so im assuming its not that wire
third terminal yel/blk wire splits into 3 wires and they go to #1: igp2 on pcm #2: igp1 on pcm #3: splits into 6 wires of which 4 go to the fuel injectors and the last 2 going to the idle air control valves (im assuming these are grounds as well since pcm has four wires which go to injectors (yel, blu, red, brn)
fourth terminal wht/blk wire goes to fuse 44 which doesnt blow with relay unplugged so that eliminates that wire
fifth terminal blu/wht wire goes to fuse 31 which doesnt blow so its not this wire
sixth terminal grn/yel wire goes to flr on the pcm and pcm appears fine but maybe its this wire?
seventh terminal which is also another yel/grn wire but not the same wire as the other one seems to go direct to the fuel pumps motor in my schematic



yel/grn -{m} blk to ground