Wiring Expert Advice Needed

Hey guys,

Need help figuring out if it is possible to wire an on/off switch to a fuse in the under hood fuse box. Let me explain further. My wife's car has some really lame AWD system that sends an electric signal to a vicious coupler to engage the rear wheels. We had some issues with it coming on and binding when it's not supposed to (its broken).. long story short I'm replacing the coupler but want to be able to disable the signal that triggers the AWD. keeping it front only when I do t need it. Currently this is done by me pulling a 10 amp fuse In the fuse box.. but I'd like to be able to wire a switch into the cabin. Any suggestions?

 

Not having a clue what your working on.

If the 10 amp fuse being removed does the trick .

Just break that circuit with your switch

Knowing when things are fixed you will just have more places for the circuit to open when you really need AWD to be working

 

It's a 14 Kia Sorento, they have a known issues with the coupler failing and it's very expensive to fix. So would I use use one of those leads that plug directly into the fuse box slot for this function or is there a better way?

 

Your looking at the vehicle make it as easy on yourself that you can

 

You want to find a EWD for the "coupler" circuit. The 10A fuse may be fusing multiple items.

 

Could you put that In leymans terms? I'm not sure what a EWD is.the 10 amp fuse is the 4WD fuse, I'm not sure what else it may control.

 

If removing that fuse causes any other circuits to not work you might want to rethink this.

Sometimes one fuse protects several circuits

Being this is a Kia were all just sort of guessing

Have the Mrs find a forum for her vehicle She can use her female charm and in no time have the service manual and all other goodies in hand

 

When you pull the fuse, what else quits working?

 

Absolutely nothing that I can tell. I had read on the Kia forums from other people with the same issue with the AWD system that to pull the fuse was a way to "diagnose" that the coupler itself was the failing part. Sure enough when I pulled the fuse the issue went away (no more signal being sent to actuate the rear coupler) . So the car runs FWD only right now, its been this way for the past few months. I did recently get the new part. But based on my research this is a design flaw on those Kia's and the Coupler is known to fail again. So as a preventative measure I figured if I can wire a switch then I can turn it off when I don't need the AWD thus reducing wear and tear on the coupler over time when I trully dont need it like in the middle of summer.. My understanding is, its really more of a software problem they refuse to fix, and essentially the AWD computer system detects slippage when its not actually there but its signalling power to the rear wheels and over time breaks down the coupler prematurely and can also lead to essentially blowing up the rear end due to binding issues.

I am sorry I realize this is a Tacoma forum, but I know this is a very active forum with lots of very smart people, so I was just throwing it out there if someone was more familiar with these things for some advice. I do appreciate the feedback. The Kia forum as you can imagine is minimal at best.. especially for the SUV's

 

You just need to interrupt the wire (ideally behind the fuse) and connect both ends to a SPST switch

 

EWD stands for electrical wiring diagram. If you had one for your Kia. I'd be really easy to see if the 10a rwd fuse powers anything else. Also I'd easier to route that switch into the cab, if it's possible.