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Ok so i began getting at my vent light cause it was blown to replace it and (i side tracked) took off the steering column cover and center console... disconnected the cig lighter/ashtray... Well when i put the column cover and glove box back together i started it up to head to auto-zone for lights i noticed my radio/clock wasn't on...after the store i got home and noticed the radio fuse blew, thinking i touched something by accident i put a new 15 amp fuse in and when i turned the key to "on" radio was on and clock was on but when i turned on my parking and/or headlight switch i noticed the clock dimmed out but didn't react to the dimmer control and the radio flicked off then on then once again blew the fuse...so i took off the column cover to check to see if i pinched any wires and removed the glove box again and checked for pinched wires...nothing...all my ext lights come on... parking/side/headlights... blinkers work and hazard so i dont think its something i did in the steering column...i disconnected the radio harness and checked my amp wires thinking my remote wire grounded out and that was fine so i tried it once again without the radio harness plugged in and same dim look on the clock so i shut if off cause im out of 15 amp fuses.....any ideas?

Did you recently install an aftermarket deck? If so, chances are you grounded the deck to your dash-light dimmer wire, which shows ground when the dash lights are off, and varies up to 12 volts when the parking lights and dimmer switch are turned on.

I saw this countless times when working as a mobile electronics installer...

not recently but i do have a aftermarket radio i installed it years ago and havent touched anything back there since....UPDATE....its only my radio and clock its affecting....my cluster lights are fine...

Homo trons, you have to get rid of the Homo trons. They blow fuses.

Homo trons? lol

Go to the scrap yard and pocket many many 15 amp fuses.

disconnect the bigger items, one by one. If it fixes the problem, great.

If not, start checking things for continuity to ground on the 12 volt side of the radio fuse. Start at the actual fuse terminal, and move away, checking the branches, and following the path to ground. you'll find it eventually.

electronics trouble shooting is no fun

well the weather hasnt been friendly here the past few days so for now i got my ipod and speakers holding me over hopefully this weekend ill get time to dig deep..

*VERY LATE UPDATE*....So i took out the radio wiggled a few wires and it all works now...i checked for nicks and things like that but nothing...

anjin1982 wrote:*VERY LATE UPDATE*....So i took out the radio wiggled a few wires and it all works now...i checked for nicks and things like that but nothing...

This is probably already resolved but...

My cigarette lighter sucked, and didn't work at all.

I replaced it, the ground wire was a little off, and every time I plugged something in it would trip that same fuse.

I bought a pack of fuses(dirt cheap, so no worries), then blew 1 more verifying that the cig lighter was in fact the problem.

Now I just don't put anything in there, but I will probably work on it today... I have other electrical crap to do too. -.-

I never had any issues with my cig lighter...could yours be the lighter itself? (the coil thing?)

anjin1982 wrote:I never had any issues with my cig lighter...could yours be the lighter itself? (the coil thing?)

Doubtful, it worked sporadicly before I replaced it with a new one. I still have the old lighter, it and the new one both blow the fuse. I'm reluctant to take it apart again since I put it all together very carefully and even rewired my iPod cable through my console.

wiring for the cigarette lighter could be put on wrong that can cause it to blow, when you press it in the power is not going through the heating coil just to ground causing the fuse to blow so recheck it and see what you come up with.

Newfie_dan wrote:wiring for the cigarette lighter could be put on wrong that can cause it to blow, when you press it in the power is not going through the heating coil just to ground causing the fuse to blow so recheck it and see what you come up with.

That's what's odd about it... I wired it the exact same way the OEM one was.

When I pulled the OEM one, I removed the L shaped plug n play adapter for the hot/ground, split the plastic and attached hot/hot and ground/ground connections. Also, I replaced the Ashtray light(Didn't know there was one) when I did all this. What a pointless light...

lol yeah its a useless one for sure, well if I were you I would remove the cigarette lighter and test it with it depressed, obviously its drawing to much current for the fuse, may be something internal allowing it to bypass to ground instead of going through the heating coil.

Newfie_dan wrote:lol yeah its a useless one for sure, well if I were you I would remove the cigarette lighter and test it with it depressed, obviously its drawing to much current for the fuse, may be something internal allowing it to bypass to ground instead of going through the heating coil.

I asked a friend about it and he said it might be rated for a higher voltage... wouldn't that mean a slightly larger fuse might be necessary?

That scares me because it might cause something more valuable than a .35 cent fuse to blow. Idk, I only know the basics on electrical wiring.