Left running lights keep popping fuses.

[joetiii]

Help me troubleshoot my left driving lights as they are popping the fuse as soon as I turn them on. I've pulled the front housing and disasembled it. No apparent grounding. Left the housing out with no bolbs in. Still burning. So I go to the rear and pull the bulbs out there. Still popping. Where to check next? Funny thing is turnsignals, reverse and flashers work fine. hmmmm

[donporfi]

Please tell me if what I understood is correct:
You took the running light bulbs off the sockets? and when you turn on the running lights the fuse blows?
If that is the case, you have a grounded cable ( or a frayed cable that is touching ground) between the fuse and the running lights socket. You need to check if it is the front or the rear circuit, then locate the grounded cable.

[johndglynn]

Joe. I had the same thing on my SC Cab: went from popping a sidelight fuse every now and then to blowing it as soon as the switch was pulled. In my case, the line to the rear sidelights from the fusebox had heated up and melted to another wire in the loom as it drops down from the fusebox.

I pulled the whole rear lamp loom out of the fusebox and stripped off the insulation, found the bits that were causing the problem and spliced new cable in, has worked a treat ever since. This is the section I am talking about:

[carreradpt]

Joe, I have exactly the same thinking happening to me. I have pulled the housings out and cleaned them up and checked all the obvious wiring. I'll check the sockets without the bulbs with power and see what happens.

[joetiii]

Getting those housings out is a PITA. I'm going to check the wires at the fusbox next, as well as pull the body electrical plugs on inside the body to see if I can isolate the short as being outside the fenderwell, or internal body wiring.

[joetiii]

Originally posted by carreradpt
Joe, I have exactly the same thinking happening to me. I have pulled the housings out and cleaned them up and checked all the obvious wiring. I'll check the sockets without the bulbs with power and see what happens.

Dan,

You have any luck? I'm going to dive into the fuse box sometime this weekend.

How do I test the circuit for front or rear?

I'm thinking I can use my ohm meter at the end of the front or rear body plug and make sure I have a 0 signal on each plug hole when I go to ground with the other end correct?

If so, this should get me looking at the correct wire run from the fuse box to front or rear harness.

[ipacketeer]

Dan,

Needless to say, there is an overload on that circuit that is why the fuse is blowing.
By any chance, did you do any electrical work under the dashboard, such as installing a Stereo or adding a CD changer, Power Antenna. If you did, reverse the whole thing see if that is the problem. Hope this helps.