Running and license plate lights shorting out

[92NHranger]

So last week i thought i blew my dimmer switch after i needed to find a sweet spot to have my headlights and running lights on at the same time. so i swapped that out. turns out it burned on of the terminals off. the wire chart says it was the main headlight to dimmer, red wire yellow stripe. my headlights low/high are fine. In the end that didnt work so i checked my fuses and i blew a 10a blade. swapped that out everything is fine. drive for 5 mins and there they go. put a 15a fuse in same thing. i tried to follow the wire back when i swapped the switch but couldnt see it burned at all.. anyone know where it could be shorting out? right now all that stays on is my headlights.

no running lights, tail lights, license plate lights, cluster, radio, heater.

Brake lights work when i hit the brakes and blinkers/hazards work

 

[adsm08]

Check your bulbs, particularly the turn/stop/tails. If one is burnt out and the park filament is falling across the other one it can pop the fuse.

 

[92NHranger]

i didnt think about that. the blinkers and brake lights still work though, will that matter?

 

[--weezl--]

if the turn/brake filament is fine, but the running filament is shorted to the ground on the turn brake, or the little wires that hold the filament are bent from getting hot, it could cause that... so to answer your question, yes, it is possible that one is shorting out, and the other still works like normal

my guess is you have a section of wire that is not in a loom, that has worn through and is rubbing on the body or frame, or 2 wires (power and ground) inside of a loom have worn through on eachother, or you had a squirrel chewing on your wiring and shorting them out...

 

[92NHranger]

so lets say its a wire rubbing on my body... would it be the wire that caused my pigtail to melt? and all i have to do is follow the rainbow to the pot of gold? or can it be a random wire that i will never find? im just trying to get as much information as possible before i start working.

 

[adsm08]

If there is a wire rubbed, it is guaranteed to be on the circuit for the fuse that is blowing. That's how fuses work.


The only other thing I can think of off hand, I have seen, rarely, where a bad instrument cluster bulb.

 

[--weezl--]

so lets say its a wire rubbing on my body... would it be the wire that caused my pigtail to melt? and all i have to do is follow the rainbow to the pot of gold? or can it be a random wire that i will never find? im just trying to get as much information as possible before i start working.

yes... it could be anywhere... as adsm said thought, it would have to be the same circuit, but it could be anywhere... easiest way to do it, start with a multimeter and probe every connection to see if you can find it

 

[92NHranger]

so i've been dealing with the issue and just swapping out fuses when they blow. i think i found it i had a positive wire from the battery grounding on my wheelwell where that splash guard is. could that be it? i taped it off and put a plastic shield around it and havent had any issues yet but sometimes its moody and doesnt go off every 5 minutes.

 

[92NHranger]

just kidding it got pissed and popped again.. i guess ill have to rip my dash apart

 

[--weezl--]

Yeah if it's mount directly off the battery, it won't blow fuses, your battery will go boom, or your truck will go ROAR SIZZLE BURN


Sent from somewhere naughty!

 

[92NHranger]

yeah ive blown the sidewall in one of my tires once. beat the shit out of my truck getting it out of the woods and my battery jumped out, grounded out on my firewall and fried the battery.. Thankfully i stalled out going uphill and pop started it.

 

[92NHranger]

i think i found the issue, i ripped my dash apart and followed the red wire with a yellow stripe and found this relay behind the dimmer switch tucked way back. im not sure what it does or if its blow it doesnt look burnt or anything. anyway i unplugged it and i havent had the problem since. i also did the quick fix for the slack in the throttle cable and now have twice the throttle i did before. i didnt even think it was bad..

 

[--weezl--]

Lol the old "zip tie mod" as the tools on another unnamed forum, call it

Leave it up to a bunch of mall crawlers to consider a repair for a worn part, a "mod" lol... Thinking about it, they should really just change the name of that forum to pirate2.com... The only difference, on pirate of you call it like it is, you get flamed to the point where you give up, on the other one that I'm talking about, they will just whine to the mods and have you banned...


Sent from somewhere naughty!

 

[92NHranger]

it was either zip ties or a new spring, i chose about 5 zip ties. i never new my truck had that much power...