K
Tail light fuse keeping blowing
crazymikey
+1y
Alright,I've got an annoying little electrical issue with my truck.
Driving home I think Thursday or Friday night,my dash lights just randomly shut off. I thought,oh great,my dash light bulb has burned out. Then the car behind me starts high beaming me and I'm like wtf,so I pull over and discover my tail lights and parking lights aren't working,but my signals,brake and reverse lights still all worked fine.
So anyways,I've had all my frame grounds under the bed redone,and I had a bad ground on my RH tail light,and a rotten socket,and all that has been fixed. I went through all my stereo wiring with the key on,trying to make something short out with no luck.
Every time we think we've got it fixed,I drive the truck for anywhere from 5 minutes to over an hour and the fuse just randomly blows. There's got to be a short in the harness somewhere,but we have no idea where,or why.
Anyone have any other suggestions where to look and what else I could do to try and pinpoint this? It's annoying as hell because I can't drive the truck at night now. I drove home about 70km lastnight with no tail lights after the fuse blew again and had to keep my 4 ways on.
Driving home I think Thursday or Friday night,my dash lights just randomly shut off. I thought,oh great,my dash light bulb has burned out. Then the car behind me starts high beaming me and I'm like wtf,so I pull over and discover my tail lights and parking lights aren't working,but my signals,brake and reverse lights still all worked fine.
So anyways,I've had all my frame grounds under the bed redone,and I had a bad ground on my RH tail light,and a rotten socket,and all that has been fixed. I went through all my stereo wiring with the key on,trying to make something short out with no luck.
Every time we think we've got it fixed,I drive the truck for anywhere from 5 minutes to over an hour and the fuse just randomly blows. There's got to be a short in the harness somewhere,but we have no idea where,or why.
Anyone have any other suggestions where to look and what else I could do to try and pinpoint this? It's annoying as hell because I can't drive the truck at night now. I drove home about 70km lastnight with no tail lights after the fuse blew again and had to keep my 4 ways on.
hocbj23
+1y
ur harness for the rear lites leaves at the rear of the passenger side of the cab.It may have rubbed on the cab body and shorts out when u hit a bump.Check there.BJ
crazymikey
+1y
oooooh...I don't think we checked that far up. Does that harness go up into the cab and run along the floor by the back wall of the cab?
greggoryh
+1y
yes it does. I has this problem 2 winters ago, and I found that the trailer wiring that was in there wasn't sealed enough, and the slush & salt got into it, and made my tail lights into a spectacular show
crazymikey
+1y
Well I've been driving in some pretty mucky conditions. I'm actually on my way out to go have the harness at the cab checked,and then I have to head to work....with a pocket full of fuses just in case,lol
slamditbig
+1y
i had the same problem. i had two problems. two wires under the trans were dragging and rear harness at the back wasnt grounded
sierrax
+1y
Does the vehicle have/had and alarm? If so check its connections. Try checking your front marker lights since you just changed the bumper and grille. Make sure to check them from the light past the plug thats about 2 feet down the line.
If you really want to find the problem wait untill the fuse blows, plug another fuse in and if it blows your set. After this unplug all of your lights in the lighting circuit. Try another fuse, if it blows then you know its in the harness (and if its in the harness start by checking all of the points that would rub through). If the fuse doesn't blow then keep it in and plug one light in at a time untill it does. Then your found the short.
If all else fails take out the fuse and hardwire it in. Then all you have to do is follow the smoke. I don't recomend this but it will definatly find the short.
If you really want to find the problem wait untill the fuse blows, plug another fuse in and if it blows your set. After this unplug all of your lights in the lighting circuit. Try another fuse, if it blows then you know its in the harness (and if its in the harness start by checking all of the points that would rub through). If the fuse doesn't blow then keep it in and plug one light in at a time untill it does. Then your found the short.
If all else fails take out the fuse and hardwire it in. Then all you have to do is follow the smoke. I don't recomend this but it will definatly find the short.
crazymikey
+1y
haha,finding the smoke...yes...that would work. The fuse randomly blew on my twice yesterday,however I drove 160km round trip to work and back and my lights worked the entire way. The has never had an alarm either. I checked the parking light plugs,but didnt follow the wires as far back as I could. Where the harness comes out of the cab is fine.