1999 Grand Caravan Sport Blowing Fuse

[bigbrowntruck]

Great forum! Tons of info!
I have a '99 Grand Caravan Sport with 62000 miles. I've never had a problem with it until recently. I noticed that my Speedometer, fuel, and temp gauges were not working when I pulled out of my driveway. The tachometer was working though. I checked the fuses and the rear wiper fuse (20 amp) was blown. The push buttons for the AC, rear wiper, rear defroster, and recirc would not work either. Also the overhead trip computer and temperature was blank. The interior lights also stayed on after entering the van until they timed off instead of shutting off as soon as the ignition was in the 'on' position. I replaced the 20 amp fuse and it blew immediately when I turned the key to 'on'. I installed a 30 amp fuse and it lasted about 45 seconds until it blew. In that time, everything powered back up. All gauges, overhead display, rear wiper worked, everything. I initially thought it was the rear wiper because I've heard a lot about problems with them, but it worked fine with the larger fuse and did not cause the fuse to blow when it operated. The fuse was going to blow whether anything was on. I took it to a shop and they worked on it for about 3 hours. They feel the short is up behind the fuse panel but the panel plugs directly into the computer so they couldn't bypass the short circuit. They suggested taking it to a Dodge dealer. The van still runs just fine, but I know that electrical problems can be a nightmare. Has anyone had a similar problem?
Thanks,
Jeff

[bigbrowntruck]

Problem found at dealership. There is a wire plug connection under the carpet under the passenger seat that had shorted and melted. Apparently got wet sometime. 5 or 6 wires melted through. Not sure what the dollar amount will be though, but none of their books directed them to this failure. It was all pointing at the fuse block itself.