Hey all! Yay, I finally made 15 posts, so here is my first thread.

Basically I was changing the bulbs in the digital climate control, as they were all dark and also in the 4-way flasher switch. Now I have no dash lights or tail/parking lights. The fuse was blown, and continues to blow.

I thought maybe somehow I dead shorted at one of the bulbs, so I disconnected the 4-way switch and also the DCC, but I still blew the fuse. My next guess was that I pinched a wire, but I couldn't see any that were kinked or anything like that when I looked.

Right now I'm just really confused. I'm not sure really where to look. And beyond that how to test for a short when the fuse is blown? Should I try to DMM all the illumination wires to ground to look for continuity? Should I be looking at the bulbs for a short?

Please help! thanks

 

well, one side of each light should continue to ground, the other should show voltage at the appropriate time when the light should be lit. if a wire is grounding directly when it shouldn't be, or is broken and goes to ground somehow, you might not notice it with the DMM just by testing light sockets. but if both sides of a light socket are always continuous to ground when one shouldn't be... that may be your culprit.

my logic may be hard to follow, if it is, i'll understand

 

no i understand the logic. Just to be sure, when the switch is off, one side should be continuous to ground, and the other should be open?

 

That happened to me alot, the instrument panel and taillights going out. I think once, it happened again just 2 weeks after i fixed it. I figured something was short circuiting cause my electric door locks never worked. I just bought a pack of the same amp fuse i used (I think it was 5) from walmart and kept replacing them as needed. I never did get to have that checked out though. sorry

 

come to think of it the +12 lead on the bumper blinker light grounds out when not in use... meaning both sides are grounded. the same may be true for all lights. in which case it would only help to see what your voltage is when the light ought to be lit. that's going to make the diagnosis tougher.

 

My fuse blows immeadiately. I mean turn lights on, then "pop" within a second or two.

hmm... i'm gonna need to study that wiring diagram a lil more...

would it work to put alligator clip a small battery...say like 9v into the fusebox and check at the sockets for voltage? Or does the switch need to energize a relay that would still leave it open. this is really aggravating me. I finally have some real time today. So I'll post any updates.

 

the taillight sockets in these cars seem to go bad a lot due to corrosion or whatever

it'd be a coincidence if this went bad at the same time you were doing the work, but it's possible

Anyway, buy a bunch of spare fuses and do some testing. Unplug the taillight harnesses in the trunk, and turn on the lights. If it still blows the fuse, find something else on that circuit to unplug and repeat
If you need the wiring diagram, you can download the factory service manual online (link is here if you search for it - phatg20 or something like that).

 

ok...thanks everyone for your help. As it turns out, with no fuse, both sides ground out. So that DMM idea was lost. I went bulb by bulb to see if I had bridged any connections, and I found that I may have in the hazard switch.

Inside the hazard switch there were 2 posts that the bulb socket slides over. There is also a 3rd copper bar that apparently my wire was touching. I corrected this problem and the fuse stopped blowing. Now I am pretty confused as to how the thin lead wire of the microbulb (didn't go LEDs) could conduct enough current to blow the fuse so quickly. But it apparently did. And until it pops up again, I'm going to consider this solved.

I feel really silly because I took out all the new bulbs but the hazard one before posting in here...should've just taken out the last one.

Thanks a million to everyone who helped!

 

the thin wire grounded your circuit, or shorted it. With little to no load or resistance (the lights) the current goes thru the roof and bam no more fuse. IxR=V resistance and current are indirectly proportional