15A Fuse for tails,cluster,instrument,and tag lights keeps going out

[Maverick42786]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, and I signed up looking for any possible answers to my problem with my Matrix. I have an 03' Matrix XR, and it seems to be having an electrical problem somewhere. Everytime I plug a 15A fuse it pops as soon as you turn the parking or headlights on. This fuse control Instrument Lights, Cluster Lights, Tag Lights and Tail Lights. The car had front end accident damage, I am not sure if this was the cause or not. The vehicle has been completely repaired, new paint job, headlights, tail lights, fog lights, radiator, and other parts.

The tail lights only work for Signal,Break ,and Hazard. But not for night time running lights

I've tried a few things on troubleshooting this problem.
1. I checked all the sockets for possible grounding out failure.
2. I unplugged the wire harness from under the dash leading to all the lights at the back of the car.
3. I noticed the previous owner must have installed an alarm, so I removed the alarm myself and resoldered the wires that were tapped into.
4. I took my car to an Advanced Auto Parts and had them hook up a diagnostic tool. Good news is, it read no problems were found. But still im left with the electrical issue...

Any help or direction of what to try next would be greatly appreciated.
Toyota dosnt want to give me any help over the phone ,and said they can look at my car for $100. Thats just for a diagnostic.

[Advisor Mike]

It definitely sounds like a wiring issue with the harness (first guess), or somewhere in that aftermarket alarm system.

[fishexpo101]

Electrical issues are notoriously a nightmare to diagnose, unless you get lucky and stumble on the problem right off the bat. Much of it due to the interconnectivity between circuits and running though integration relays (basically a big wiring block).

Sounds like you have to trace the wires back from the source to the lamps - the accident could have crushed a wire somewhere and it is shorting out to ground, blowing the fuse. Possible there is damage to the integration relay under the dash (internally shorted)- that would be tough to check out, unless you had a lot of time on your hands.

Doubt it is a socket issue - as you probably discovered. Very possible that the previous owner has a wire spliced somewhere else that might be causing this. Could be something not even related to the lamps - short in the 12V auxillary power, short in the headunit, etc. Unfortunantly, no quick easy answer - just need a wiring diagram and try and find the problem via process of elimination.