Ghost Electrical system short that causes radiator to go out.

[Galexander]

Hello All!

First post! I've been chasing an electrical short in my system for some time now. Previously, it was the stereo. Found an exposed wire, capped it. Everything was fine until the next morning the EM2(?) fuse blew again but didn't again for a couple months.

On christmas day, Van was running great, it snowed a lot so I was plowing through some snow banks. Then the fuse (I actually wired in a breaker for diagnostics) blew and my dash Christmas tree lit up insinuating that my alternator was not charging. I pulled over and killed the engine. Checked the fuse box and discovered that the short was attached to the Engine fuse. When I tried to start it again. It didn't have enough power to engage the starter solenoid. If I waited a few minutes it would start but then the short would blow the fuse and eliminate alternator charging.

My assumption is that the short has so much draw that it wasn't able to engage the solenoid immediately.

I park it. Attach a optimum battery in series to drive it home the next morning (no lights or major electrical draw). Alternator is charging fine again...

I've tested the alternator when it wasn't shorting and it charges fine. This is the second time this short has come up and prevented the alternator from charging.

Any suggestions on what's going on?

Update: cleaned out all the snow from underneath and seems to be doing fine again....