Wire Short

specialfxn · Sep 19, 2015

Aloha,

I have a 2004 XLT and it is running fine, but I have short somewhere. I was installing a new stereo and things did not go as planned. Long story short, I believe i have narrowed it down to the illumination wire (lt blue/red). The fuses are all good and when tested with a multimeter it shows some problems. I do not know where to start looking for the short. My understanding is everything that gets illuminated has this wire. I have try to trace back the wire but can only go so far. Where and how should I look for the short. Also, now I have no taillights. Brake, blinker, and headlights all work. At this point any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance.

Steve

Spott · Sep 19, 2015

"Short" is a layman's term that means "I think there's a problem in the wiring." Your description is too vague for any reply more specific than "Examine the wires and look for problems."

What are the symptoms of your problem? What have you done so far? What have you tested and checked?

pjtoledo · Sep 19, 2015

is the wire a variable intensity/dimmer line? or full 12v when power is on?

Haywire6000 · Sep 20, 2015

Are you saying you keep blowing fuses for the marker lights now after installing a radio?

If so, double check all your connections. Make sure everything is wired correctly.

edward2016 · Sep 20, 2015

yea buddy i had the same prob back in the winter when i put in a amp and kicker 10. does a fuse keep blowing? try to disconnect the cig lighter. for some reason that fixed my short.

huh? · Sep 21, 2015

does the light switch need to be "on" for the illumination wire to be energized?

Haywire6000 · Sep 22, 2015

Yes it does, it only gets power when the switch is on. If it was "Hot" all the time the lights on the factory radio would always be on.

adsm08 · Sep 22, 2015

Spott said:
"Short" is a layman's term that means "I think there's a problem in the wiring."

"Short" is a technical term that means the circuit has bypassed it's intended load and is sending all the power straight to ground. It is just often (reads "always") misused by laymen.

But I agree, the original description is far too vague to be useful.

specialfxn · Sep 25, 2015

Problem fixed. Sorry for the vague post, it was a long week of work. It ended up being a couple of different fuses. I thought that I had checked and re-checked all of them but missed a couple I guess. I also finally found the proper fuse diagram for my truck. It seemed everyone I looked at was a little different.
Lesson learned: dont work on things when you cant focus

Wire Short

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huh?

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