94 Lincoln Continental: Introduction

Hello Community,

I just acquired a 94 Lincoln Continental. It was not running when I received it. I diagnosed no spark and no fuel. I dealt with no spark first. I replaced battery, spark plug wires, cap, rotor, and starter solenoid. I now have spark. Now for the fuel. I diagnosed no fuel delivery due to no pump noise. I dropped the tank, cleaned the tank, replaced the pump, replaced the fuel filter, put the tank back up, put gas in with fuel treatment, and started it right up. Now to the 3rd issue.

I have no dash lights and I have a fuse that keeps on blowing. The dash panel is completely black. All LCD displays do not show. The seat belt and parking light do display as well as the gear selector strip and the buttons for the climate control however the LCD for the climate control is black too. The second problem with electrical is in the interior fuse box, fuse number 5 keeps on blowing. It is a 15 amp fuse that controls the Turn Lamps, Backup Lamps, Keyless Entry, Variable Assist Power Steering Module, EATC, Manual Lever Position Sensor, Steering Rate Sensor, Air Suspension Electronic Control Module, Rear Window Defrost, Electronic Rear View Mirror, DRL, Air Bag Diagnostic Module, Air Suspension, Shift Lock Actuator, and Illuminated Entry Timer. So yes, it controls a butload of stuff. It blows any fuse up to 30 amp (I don't keep the 30 in there because I know it will lead to trouble. My Keyless Entry still works even with the fuse not in there.... :banghead:

Is there anybody out there that has experienced some of the same issues or that can help spread some knowledge on the problems I am experiencing?

For those that were wondering the same thing....

I took the dash and istrument cluster apart. I noticed that the ribbopn connector was not fully seated on the connector and there for was crossing terminals (blowing fuse).... I cleaned the ribbon with the eraser and dusted it out with canned air and then reassembled the dash. Walla..... The dash now glows the bright green it should with all the gauges working...