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Tail light fuse keeps blowing and no tail lights or dash lights

28857 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Tectonic
Hi, I was hoping if anyone could help me with this problem. I own a 1991 Pickup, 22 RE regular cab. I recently put in a new Stereo with iPod controls and Bluetooth. There already was an aftermarket basic CD player in it when I bought it. I installed the new deck and replaced the old deck wiring harness with the new one I got. Afterward I noticed that my dash lights were out. I read on this form that it could be a tail light out, for my tail lights also don't work. I gather if one goes out, so does the other one. I checked the fuses and they all looked fine. It also said that my dash lights could be burnt. I then checked both and noticed that one of the two dash lights was out, and my left parking light was out, so I replaced them both, but I still none of them worked. My signal, reverse and break lights work, along with all the parking light, signal, engine high beam etc lights on my dash, they work just fine. I took another look at the fuses and the one marked "tail" which I take to mean the tail lights, it's a 15A fuse and it was blown, I replaced it with another 15A fuse which promptly also blew. I then tried a 25A fuse I had lying around and it lit for half a second then also blew. I heard a little pop coming from the steering column at the same time. Can any one help? I'm out of ideas. Thanks!
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sounds like you have something on the stereo wired to the taillight fuse. there should be 2 power wires going to the radio: one to let it know the ignition is on should go to the ignition fuse or wiring. this one will only pull a few mA and won't be noticed. the other should run directly to the battery with it's own fuse, it's what the radio actually uses for power.
This should help what to wire the radio too...
put the others back to normal.

1991-93 Toyota Pickup Stereo Wiring Constant 12V+Blue/Yellow Switched 12V+ Gray Ground Brown Illumination Green Dimmer n/a Antenna Right Front Front Speakers 4" Doors Left Front (+) Pink Left Front (-) Purple Right Front (+) Light Green Right Front (-) Blue Rear Speakers 5 1/4" Side Panels Left Rear (+) Black Left Rear (-) Yellow Right Rear (+) Red Right Rear (-) White
Try unplugging the radio and see if the problem goes away, if so check the wiring to the radio.

If it still blows fuses with the radio unplugged, then you gots yourself a short somewhere else.....
Try unplugging the radio and see if the problem goes away, if so check the wiring to the radio.

If it still blows fuses with the radio unplugged, then you gots yourself a short somewhere else.....
That's the best answer here.
You first elminate the most recent change.

Keep in mind that in addition to the tail lights, the front parking lights, tag light, all of the dash illumination lights, and a few more things work off of the TAIL fuse.
All fixed

Thanks y'all! The person who installed the first deck had wired the ground to the illumination wire and left the ground alone. I just wired it up like he did. When I would physically ground the deck, eg: the radio wire or ground the deck to the car body that's when I would pipe the fuse. Once I put the brown wire to the ground everything worked just fine. Lesson learned. Thanks so much for all your help!:clap:
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