Tripping tail fuse, need help(w/pics)

[MindBlowin03]

The new Talon has a problem where I have no dash lights and no tail lights. Found out that the TAIL fuse under the hood has some control on that so I find out mine is blown. I replaced it twice and as soon as I flip the lights on(to see if the gauges light up) the fuse blows. I tried another dimmer switch with no success. I pulled out my CD player and rewired it(all fine), and then pulled out my gauges and rewired them(fine also). I also unplugged the dimmer switch completely and still a no-go. I do have brake lights in the rear so I assume that the rear wiring is good. Only thing I can think of now is to follow that wire where ever it is exposed and see what happens. I know its in a harness(which seems untouched) through the engine bay so Im going to assume its fine in there even. Any ideas on what I should do?

UPDATE:
After trying numerous things I finally did something really dumb and threw a 20a fuse in there. Everything worked for a few seconds, then I got some smoke under the dash and found the problem(I think). The clutch safety wire is toast. There is a green/black and a black. The black wire has no insulation at all and now I have to dig into the harness to find out how far is goes.

Does anyone know what this wire has to do with the tail fuse/illumination? Also, are there any shortcuts I can take, as in running a new wire from the plug to (?)?

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[trbotaln]

you have a short to ground somewhere in your car. The wire you smoked up must be part of the same circuit as the tail light. replace the whole wire that got smoked up and look at a wiring diagram and see what else is on the same circuit as the wire you smoked. Putting a bigger fuse is not the way you want to find a short, but it can be a quick and nasty way if all else fails. Most likely if you repair the smoked wire then your short will be gone. You would benifit yourself a lot by getting a digital Volt meter.

 

[MindBlowin03]

Do you think I should follow this wire all the way through ther harness now or just find out where it goes and replace it with a new wire?

 

[trbotaln]

the problem is that you might have fused wires together when you smoked up that wire. If I were you I would follow it through the harness and see how bad it is. If it looks like that is the only wire that got toasted, then clip it on both sides of it and replace it with a new one.

 

[MindBlowin03]

I took out my entire dash and went through the wires. The black wire that is burnt connects to a big black wire. That big wire goes through the dash area and just look sto be a big ground that other little ground branch from. The big black wire is fine everywhere I checked. Does this mean I should just replace that little burnt one? Also, being that it only goes to my clutch safety should I just leave it unplugged all together? My car starts without clutch anyways, even with that plugged in.

Another thing Im wondering is that fact that the black wire thats toasted is a ground that has nothing to do with my tail fuse or illuminations. What this tells me is that maybe that wire isnt exactly the problem. Only problem then is that I went through ALOT of wires and all of them look ok.

Im totally stumped on this one.

 

[matt98eclipse]

Hey guys i know this is a really old thread but im haveing the same problem I have no dash light or running lights and as soon a i put in a new fuse in the tail spot under the hood it just keeps poping the fuses!

I have owned my car for over a year now and never had any problem with this just came out from no were. They were workin one minute and next just stopped.

Any ideas??

MINDBLOWIN03: Ever figure out the problem?

 

[redyute1]

had that same exact problem and it was only a bad brake light bulb

 

[matt98eclipse]

Thats what i thought was wrong but i checked all the brake light bulbs and there all good.

 

[1999silverGSX]

I had the same exact problem in my 99 gsx right before it got totaled. The shop had fixed it and said i had 4 shorts in my wiring harness, 1 in the rear-end 2 under the car and 1 in the engine bay. I really don't know what to tell you except to take a shop and have them look at it, but not to fix it document all the problems and report them to you. If and only if you feel comfortable tackling a problem like this fix it yourself with supported info from the shop to reduce costs.

 

[hypnoticpimp]

this proubably wont help but i had the same thing going for me 2 weeks ago...all i did was check/wiggle all the wires in my center console and under my dash and vioala...fixed...

 

[matt98eclipse]

Ill have to try to just shack some wires around under the dash and centor console and see what happens but i need to get this solved cuase i cant drive it at night.

 

[matt98eclipse]

UPDATE: I shook all the wires really bad and nothing happened any other ideas??

 

[4seaer]

the main harness in the engine bay coming off the fusebox start checking there Ihad the same problem exactly and my harness was melting together 5 inches from the fuse box for no reason at all let me know?

 

[matt98eclipse]

I checked all the wires that 4seaer said to and still haveing the issue.

 

[BoostedTalonTS]

I would double check your radio wiring... MAKE SURE that the BLK/YEL & GRN/WHT wires are not connected to the radio ground wire (or any other ground for that matter).

-These two wires are for the dimmer & illumination circuits... in 1g's, these are often accidentally hooked up to the radio's ground wire and thus being grounded through the chassis of the radio itself, once it is mounted... Then once the lighting circuit is powered on, fuses pop.

As previously mentioned, a volt meter would be extremely helpful in tracking down shorts in this case.

Good Luck

 

[matt98eclipse]

Hey man thanxs ill have to double check on what your saying and see if that helps.

 

[matt98eclipse]

BoostedtalonTS your the man you were right it was the wires for the radio i just moved the wires around so none of them are touching anything and put a new fuse in and BAM no more fuses blowing thanxs bro.