Lighting issue and unable to find solution - Update: SOLVED (shorted wire)

There were a couple posts i had read from previous years of people losing dash lights and rh marker and tail lights and being told that it was a splicer plug/pack under the hood in the fuse box, well heres my problem, driving home from work yesterday i hit a small bump in the road and i lost my dash lights, front rh side marker and rh tail light, i inspected the splicer plug and its not burnt period, no broken or chafed wires, everytime i put a new fuse in for the rh lights in the underhood fuse box, then turning on the lights, it will blow that fuse, i have already blown 10 fuses in the same spot, what else could it be? And its not the dimmer switch already tried crossover of this and it blows the fuse again.

TEN fuses ????!!!!!! Apparently you're not easily convinced, so you'll probably not be interested in taking the fuse box apart and removing/repairing the splicer wiring, instead of just doing a visual inspection.

I have had it apart 4 times, inspected the wires, did a physical test [grab and pull test] on the wires and have pulled the light sockets and found 1 bulb blown and cracked, but i honestly doubt its the splicer, plus i had a mechanic look at it and they're familiar with the splicer fix, and even their saying its not the splicer, so again my question, what else do i look at?

The only easy things to check are the bulb sockets and lamp connectors. Once you've eliminated any issues with those, then it comes down to chasing wires. However, all of that wiring goes through the splicer, so it won't be long before the whole thing gets taken apart anyway. (assuming you didn't find a socket/connector previously).

I unplugged both harnesses from both rh lights and still blowing fuse so its not in the sockets, could it be the headlight control switch on the steering column?

The only reason i ask about headlight control switch is i hqve had sunfires that have had those fail and they cause all similar issues.

Yes, anything in the circuit is a possible point of failure (in this case a short). Did you have the DRL recall done, or disconnect the module? IIRC, the recall notice mentioned melting components due to overheating. So if you're still running with the factory DRL, then the switch becomes as likely a suspect as the splicer normally is.

Pulled drl module this morning, still blowing fuses, drl module is removed completely if i can figure out how to post pictures then i will post pictures of my splicer plug to show there isn't any burns on it what so ever.

I'm just going to go ahead and do the splicer plug fix, and if that doesn't fix it then im back to square one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Z3r0x01

Pulled drl module this morning, still blowing fuses ...

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I didn't have any damage from the DRL, prior to disconnecting it. But my understanding is that the DRL sometimes causes overheating, and melting of other components (fires in the worst case). So just disconnecting it now doesn't change the possibility that some previous damage had already been done. Not saying that's your case, but just mentioning it to complete the story.

I'm sure you read in the splicer fix to carefully label where each wire came from, as you pull it all apart. Having access to those individual wires will also allow you to do continuity testing, if you're interested in doing that extra work.

I have the guide to fixing the splicer plug, going to start it now

Ok so here's an update, upon doing the splicer fix, it didn't fix it, but instead it brought me to a discovery...this car being 5spd had an automatic car starter installed so i decided to inspect that while i moved to the headlight switch, upon inspection of the wiring for automatic starter, i found 2 wires that plug into bottom of steering wheel column, 1 red wire(thick red) had melted tape off and looks like it was touching the tilt bar, and the other being orange was burned from the red wire shorting out, ripped automatic starter out, hoping for better results today.

Glad to read you found the problem! Anything added in would automatically be the first suspect, and it's too bad it resulted in so much extra work. But the good news is that the DRL and the splicer will never be able to cause problems for you in the future ;)

Thank you for your help avguy, it wasn't so much the extra work because i wanted to rip the auto starter out anyway(had past bad experience with them)

Thanks for posting the solution. It's nice to see closure in problem threads.