Tail light and Dash fuse keeps blowing

[LobbDogg]

Ok one night my dash lights just suddenly went out. I checked the tail light/dash fuse it was blown, no worries, I replaced it, within 5 seconds of turning on the lights, the fuse blows, I still have headlights and all the other lights just no dash or tail lights.

Ok here is what I've done to try and troubleshoot where I may start looking for the problem. I tried the lights with the car off, and the fuse DOES NOT blow, ok so then I tried turning the key to the accesory postion(not starting the car) and the fuse DOES NOT blow, however as soon as I turn on the car and then the lights, the fuse blows.

So whenever I use the lights when the car is on the fuse blows in like 5 seconds. I'm really lost at what I could try, I do have a aftermarket cd player in there, but I completely removed the cd player while testing, and it would still blow when the car was running.

If anyone has any ideas of what I could try to look for to solve the problem that would be appreciated.

This is on a 1998 Ford Escort ZX2 2.0 litre DOHC by the way.

[Davescort97]

Originally Posted by LobbDogg

Ok one night my dash lights just suddenly went out. I checked the tail light/dash fuse it was blown, no worries, I replaced it, within 5 seconds of turning on the lights, the fuse blows, I still have headlights and all the other lights just no dash or tail lights.

Ok here is what I've done to try and troubleshoot where I may start looking for the problem. I tried the lights with the car off, and the fuse DOES NOT blow, ok so then I tried turning the key to the accesory postion(not starting the car) and the fuse DOES NOT blow, however as soon as I turn on the car and then the lights, the fuse blows.

So whenever I use the lights when the car is on the fuse blows in like 5 seconds. I'm really lost at what I could try, I do have a aftermarket cd player in there, but I completely removed the cd player while testing, and it would still blow when the car was running.

If anyone has any ideas of what I could try to look for to solve the problem that would be appreciated.

This is on a 1998 Ford Escort ZX2 2.0 litre DOHC by the way.

I had the same problem on my car. I cleaned the battery terminals, put in a 10 more amp fuse and replaced the tail light bulbs.

[Paul78zephyr]

Check the sockets for the rear licence plate lamps. They tend to corrode and short out taking the tail and dash lights with them as they are on the same fuse.If one is corroded/melted you will need to cut the wires to it and replace it with a new one.
Paul

[mustang302]

Check the wiring all around the trunk, start at the lights and trace them as far as you can go. The wires may be rubbing on something and causing a short, that's what happened in my car. I had the same problem, blowing the same fuse as soon as I turned the lights on.

[LobbDogg]

Yeah I found out that it was a wire that I had run back to have a neon license plate frame was shorting out on the trunk. So after I pulled the whole interior and going over everywire going to the trunk I found it at the very back that it was my own stupidity that caused it. I got it all taken care of though.

[Davescort97]

Glad you got it fixed. Those shorts on the lights can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.