No Running lights

[coronan]

My fuse blows when I turn my combination switch 1 click.
No dash lights, no exterior running lights.

Has anyone delt with this before?
I'm running several LEDs, so i know i'm not pulling too many amps.
Something is shorting to ground.

Just looking for ideas before I go hunting through 5,000 ft of wire.

I will start with unplugging all of the corner lights. And see if it continues to blow. Then plug them back in 1 by 1.

Thansk!

[timsrv]

Yeah, you're on the right track. No sure fire way to instantly find, just process of elimination. Most likely spots are sockets and parts of the harness that are exposed. If you're running LED's on your exterior lights, I'd consider these a likely source too. Tim

[coronan]

My last project was R+R the heater core. That involved removing the fuse box. And several harness connectors.
Something got pissed off upon reassembly. Not sure what it was Could have been water.

1. I disconnected all bulbs, fuse blows,
2. Started disconnecting Fuse box harness plugs 1 at a time. relays, and Harness connectors below the radio.
3. During this time the van spent 2 days in a heated garage and the problem appears to have resolved it self. (water dried out?)
4. Everything was working. Went to pull the van out of the garage. No head lights.

5. Head light relay clicks, no fuses blown.
6. Swap tail light relay into headlight position. Headlignts!
7. Replace headlight relay with new. No headlights.
8. There is something very particular about the way the relays get plugged in.
9. Plugged taillight relay. Headlights!
10. Plugged in Old Relay. Headlights!

Electrical gremlins have taken a nap for now.
Next step would be to disassemble and inspect the fuse box.

[timsrv]

These kind suck, but stick with it and you'll find it. Process of elimination. Tim

[austinfromflorida]

I recently was in a fender bender and was hit very hard around the battery box of the van. I now have no tail lights nor dash lights. 15 amp tail fuse keeps blowing. I switched around the headlight/tail relays and have ruled out a bad relay. I've some tracing to do and have looked at the diagrams in the chilton manual. The fusable links are my first thought, yet was just putting a word out for some help if anyone has familiarity with this issue. Thanks-

[timsrv]

If this started at the time of the collision, then it stands to reason a wire or wires got pinched and are grounding out. Check very closely the area that was damaged to see if there are any wires in there. If there is no access, then you may need to isolate and replace the shorted wire(s) by disconnecting on each side of the damage and pulling/splicing in a new section. Tim

[coronan]

There is a large bundle of wire that runs in the body between the battery and exterior sheet metal.
It protrudes near the trailing arm. I would pull new wire.

[austinfromflorida]

I got lucky and had the ash tray out while inserting new 15a fuse after cleaning the connections of the fusable link. When I hit the head lights I caught an arc out of the corner of my eye behind the radio. The collision was hard enough to knock a wire cap off the back of the radio wire harness and was shorting. The van has only a small dent by the battery considering how hard we got hit- Thanks guys-