2005-2006 SSR Power Loss, Engine Dies When Hot but restarts when cool (Fuse box)

A very common issue for 2005-2006 SSRs is that they just shut down driving down the road after an hour or so. Everything dies or you could just get a few trouble codes and running rough. Let things cool down, and everything seems normal again, until the engine warms up again. This is due to a cracked copper wire in the fuse box wiring.

I can repair this item for you, please see this page for more information – Repairs and Services A home repair is not extremely difficult, just be careful. Replacing the wire is the best solution so there is no chance of future arcing or other issues. An alternative is to solder the area prone to cracking.

Getting the fuse box off the truck –

  • Remove all power to the truck and then remove the top cover and inner fuse box cover.
  • Take off the connectors and cables that go to the front of the box.
  • Unsnap the clips along the side of the fuse box that hold the connectors.
  • Loosen the 4 bolts in the middle of the fuse box area where the fuses are located. Once loosened, lift the fuse box up and out.

To take apart the fuse box, take a picture of the fuse box to remember positions of all parts, then remove all the fuses and relays. Tap out the bolts from the back (threaded side), take a drill bit slightly larger than the metal flange from where you pushed the bold out from and remove some of the metal. Only take out a little at a time. Then take a punch and tap the bolt retainers out by pushing on the contoured area about halfway down into the sleeve. If you take just enough metal away from the lip area to get them out they will snap back in. No worries if you take too much off, they will still hold the connectors when reassembled.

When you get the retainers off, pull the main trace section from the top of the box. The problematic wire is directly under where the fuses go so you have to pull the trace section away from the top cover to expose it. The area marked in red is the break point on all SSRs. This is the area that needs to be soldered if you intend to do that, or just pull the wire out of there and replace with a fresh strand. You do not need to follow the same trace line, I usually just go straight up and straight over to the left making a backwards “C”. When you replace the wire, make sure you use a small instrument to wedge it into the metal clips on either end like the factory did.

The copper wire is available many places, I use .032 20 gauge. You could also solder the section of his stress instead of replacing it but I like to insure that it will never break or crack again by replacing the entire trace. Corvettes and Trailblazers have the same issue withe the fuse box.

I can repair this item for you, please see this page for more information – Repairs and Services