Still having tail fuse problem - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Curry · 04-24-2007, 02:38 PM

So im still having this fuse problem I decided to make it seperate from the other thread.

today i disconnected the tail light harness and stripped the loom. wires are in perfect condition.

I disconnected the gauge cluster and interior light harness, wires are all great.

I put another fuse in and it popped...

What else is on that fuse?

I think I missed the front park lights but aside from that with everything else disconnected it still blows.

I'm getting 14 volts where the fuse should be, no weird spikes or anything and 12 with the car off.

Now if its not the front park lights what else could it be?

Curry · 04-25-2007, 10:43 AM

Checked the harness for the front park lights everything is ok, the wires arent stripped and the bulbs are ok as well... still cant figure it out.

Curry · 04-26-2007, 03:54 PM

Today I pulled out the cluster and checked all the wiring there and everything looked good.

I popped in a 15 amp fuse turned on the lights and to my amazement it didnt blow... I didnt touch anything in the car, didnt move it didnt move anywires...

Turned the lights off and back on... still didnt blow...

3rd time no blow...

4th time not so lucky... It popped the minute I turned it on.

Any wiring I may have missed?

I'm gonna try pulling all the bulbs that i missed and see if that works.

nogard · 04-26-2007, 04:46 PM

There is the saying K.I.S.S. (keep, it, simple, stupid.) I'm not implying you are stupid. I'm just saying keep it simple. Think of the stupidist simple think it could be. I was working on a CRX once and the turn signals wouldn't work. So I traced everything out, had the multimeter out. I came to a spot where there was a relay that wasn't working. Turns out the hazard switch got turned on. Since the relay didn't work the hazards weren't flashing, but by the switch being in the "on" possition the turn signal was disconnected from the circuit. All I had to do to fit the problem was turn the hazard switch "off" then I got the turn signals back. It was something so simple and stupid. And I wasted a lot of time tracing through the circuit with the meter, checking for power.

I'm not sure what to tell you. Obviously something is shorted, most likely to ground. But it now sounds kind of intermittent, maybe having something to do with the last thing you pulled apart. Well if you have every thing isolated: all the lamps are out, and all the harness plugs unpluged. Then I would take an ohm meter and check every wire to ground, and make sure one of those wires that isn't supposed to be grounded, is some how.

Curry · 04-27-2007, 08:46 AM

Yea im gonna have to try that once this weather clears up.

Curry · 05-02-2007, 01:14 PM

Tried a few more things today, no go.

Any other suggestions or lamps/harnesses I may have missed?

My results?

Luna2 · 05-02-2007, 01:23 PM

The Light Switch itself. Your last choice.

dc_98_cam · 05-02-2007, 02:01 PM

Just a long shot, but one time I ran into a similar problem with a fuse blowing ... everytime the brake light went on. I finally tracked it down to an internal short within one of the brake light lamp socket assemblies. ... Maybe a manufacturing defect or something. I cut off the entire lamp socket and replaced it ... no further problems. Could your short be located in one of the parking light lamp sockets ... one side or the other?
... Interested to see how this turns out.

Dave

Curry · 05-02-2007, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_98_cam

Just a long shot, but one time I ran into a similar problem with a fuse blowing ... everytime the brake light went on. I finally tracked it down to an internal short within one of the brake light lamp socket assemblies. ... Maybe a manufacturing defect or something. I cut off the entire lamp socket and replaced it ... no further problems. Could your short be located in one of the parking light lamp sockets ... one side or the other?
... Interested to see how this turns out.

Dave

Thats a thought... But rather than going around cutting all the sockets off is there a way I could test each socket to see if its shorting?

hbasavar · 05-02-2007, 09:09 PM

Did you check the wiring that goes on the hinge of your trunk lid? It is hard to notice and your got to pull the wires out from the plastic conduit. Mine was gone there and it was getting grounded and my gauge fuse used to blow up every time.

ag6286 · 05-02-2007, 10:05 PM

Hey at least it didn't end up like mine. I have similar problem but the fuse didn't normlly blow just heated up. Most recently the fuse i used previously got SO hot it welded itself into the fuse box and still didnt blow, it literally melted the house and the fuse until it didn't work anymore. Sucks. Now i just bypassed it with an inline fuse.

Curry · 05-02-2007, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hbasavar

Did you check the wiring that goes on the hinge of your trunk lid? It is hard to notice and your got to pull the wires out from the plastic conduit. Mine was gone there and it was getting grounded and my gauge fuse used to blow up every time.

I went thru the entire piece of loom and the wires are in perfect condition...

dc_98_cam · 05-03-2007, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curry

Thats a thought... But rather than going around cutting all the sockets off is there a way I could test each socket to see if its shorting?

.... As soon as you observe the fuse blow when you turn on the lights, or whatever, see if one or the other of the parking light lamp sockets is noticeably warmer than the other. When the fuse blows, there should be a brief, but significant build up of heat, and temperature, at the location of the short due to whatever resistance is present and the high current value. If there is a short, it should be easy enough to locate just by touch.

.... I guess you could use one of those IR Thermometer guns. That sounds like it might be a little tricky, though.

Luna2 · 05-05-2007, 05:39 PM

Keep us posted, Please.

I had a shop tech tell me once, to wire a signal (Mechanical light duty for two bulbs) flasher in series with a brake light bulb. Then with a long pair of wires, attach it across the bad fuse. When the light stops flashing the short should be gone. A dim glow might indicate a normal circuit load. A flashing light indicates a high current flow.

Good Luck

Keep us posted, Please.

Curry · 05-05-2007, 08:03 PM

Still no luck today. Tried to see if the sockets would heat up after they blew, no go. They were all cold...

Before we get to my results I just realized something today. I looked at my alarm fuses and one of the two were blown... Basically if I replace the tail fuse and the alarm fuse... The tail fuse will blow and then the alarm fuse will blow... Im guessing this is becuase the alarm is spliced into the tail lights.

But I've had the alarm for years and never had a problem. It was only after this damn rain storm this started happening...

Now the results:

I made sure to disconnect the tail light harness and the gauges + cluster and none of the sockets in the front got hot...

Any other ideas on pinpointing this short? My last resort may be to chop off the front bulbs one at a time and see if it works.

This is driving me mad! I might have to just take it back to the shop and have them trace it...

UNLESS... Could it be the wiring inside the car near the fuse box? I know there are a few harnesses down there as well. (Near the foot brake)

Luna2: thanks for the advice I guess when I get some more time I'll have to try that and see what happens.