Dash Light Fuse keeps blowing....

hey all,
not too sure if this is the section to put this,
I was just on my way home, as it was getting dark, turned my lights on and the back lights for the tacho, speedo, and aircon etc went off... checked the fuse and fair enough it was blown, so i changed it to a new one, turned them on and bam blew the fuse again, i then put a 15amp fuse in and it blew that aswell... anyone know why this is?
EDIT:
well the CD player still works perfectly fine so it cant be that?
Would it be the head lights or tail lights? as when the fuse has blown, the tail lights dont work or the parkers?

You have a short in your circuit supporting the things you mentioned, if the tacho is aftermarket, Id start at looking at that wiring.

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Originally Posted by markoJEK1

You have a short in your circuit supporting the things you mentioned, if the tacho is aftermarket, Id start at looking at that wiring.

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Yeah check wiring for aftermarket guages first

there is a grounding issue

There is a ground on the steering column and check the ground where the deck goes

if i remember, the deck was still working... and i dont have any aftermarket guages etc? my head and tail lights are aftermarket but they still work lol but yeahh ill check the grounding for all mentioned :D
thanks guys

well the CD player still works perfectly fine so it cant be that?
Would it be the head lights or tail lights? as when the fuse has blown, the tail lights dont work or the parkers?

what CD player do you have?

Check the Illumination (dimmer) wire is either hooked up properly, or taped or properly.

do the brake lights work?

pull your tail/brake light combo globes out & see if the short disappears

i have a JVC mp3 player... its still working perfectly fine tho...
ive discovered none of the parkers work, and when the lights are on, that little beep sound doesnt work either...
i will have a look 2morrow, i cant really check anything anymore as im all out of fuses :(

so uve blown the brake light fuse as well???

chucking fuses at the problem,especially bigger ones then original, aint the best plan of attack....

$10 worth of multimeter is much better

go put your foot on the brake pedal & see if both brake lights come on

yeahh the brake lights work dude, and the headlights work but not the parkers, and the hi beam works aswell... just no tail lights when not braking

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Originally Posted by VTi_b0i

yeahh the brake lights work dude, and the headlights work but not the parkers, and the hi beam works aswell... just no tail lights when not braking

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dimmer wire.

Had the same problem, kept the fuse for dash and tail lights, they are the same fuse.

CHECK YOUR DIMMER WIRE. it was probably left un taped or poorly insulated when your HU was installed.

ill have a geez :) any idea what colour the wire is?

red/black for power to general lights,dimmer signal to HU,etc(first click of light switch)

actual dimmer wire to other dash lights that dim when u turn knob is plain red wire

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Originally Posted by CRXer

so uve blown the brake light fuse as well???

chucking fuses at the problem,especially bigger ones then original, aint the best plan of attack....

$10 worth of multimeter is much better

go put your foot on the brake pedal & see if both brake lights come on

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Oh......I was gonna say. just put a 12 gauge wire across it and use it as a foot warmer! But the multimeter would be a better idea!

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Originally Posted by CRXer

red/black for power to general lights,dimmer signal to HU,etc(first click of light switch)

actual dimmer wire to other dash lights that dim when u turn knob is plain red wire

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:thumbsup:

If it gets too hard, disconnect the HU and see if it still blows to eliminate it. It may still work but could be the cause to the blow!

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Originally Posted by Nepolian

Oh......I was gonna say. just put a 12 gauge wire across it and use it as a foot warmer!

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typical EP3R owner looking for more luxuries in his car.....pffft....
bet it already has nutsack warmers.........

damn, nutsack warmers, i want some :p but seriously like many have said sounds like a dimmer wire shorting behind the head unit, has ur car had any accidents maybe with a shorting wire??? let us know wat u have found so far?

Cheers

nahh as far as i can remember ive never had any dramas with anything on my car... i did how ever just swap my head unit over as i had one JVC deck already in there and i swapped it with another JVC deck that i had in my daily... so no wiring was changed tho. but it could have came loose with all the fcuking around

yer definatly check that out, make sur no wiring loose or un insulated, also check that the cars dimmer wire is not incorrectly hooked up to something else, if all in insulated unplug the headulit and change the fuse, what happens?

ok... looks like the red/black wire isnt connected to anything at all... its just sitting there, so i guess thats what shorting out, BUT is it supposed to be connected to anyhting?

well LOL the lights are fixed :D thank you very much :D
BUT now the speakers arent working haha but ill look at that another day... the person that first wired a cd player in left the wires so short u have to kinda pull at the wires to get to it... but ill figure that out later...
thanks again guys... much appreciated

nice one! You need to SOLDER and INSULATE all the connections that are behind the headunit and any other join for that matter.

Good luck

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Originally Posted by bungsai

dimmer wire.

Had the same problem, kept the fuse for dash and tail lights, they are the same fuse.

CHECK YOUR DIMMER WIRE. it was probably left un taped or poorly insulated when your HU was installed.

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This will probably be the problem, too often after quick head unit installations people lose parkers, and cluster illumination.

Make your your wires are properly insulated, and are not crushed behind the head unit when you place it back in.