Aftermarket stereo keep blowing the fuse

Tiny
SWOODS
  • MEMBER
  • 1986 CHEVROLET CAPRICE
  • 130,000 MILES
I just put an aftermarket stereo in my 86 caprice and I lost my dash lights and tail lights and keep blowing the fuse for the tail lights when I installed my stereo my dash light did not come on and then I noticed that my tail lights did not work either so I checked the fuse and replaced it and as soon as I turned on my lights I blew the fuse
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 AT 8:22 AM

2 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
If the fuse for the tail lamps keeps blowing, then we need to start with unplugging the radio and find out if the fuse keeps blowing.

The radio is not related to this fuse so it is unlikely that this is related but anything is possible so just unplugging the radio should help us figure out if this is the issue.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-fuse

If the fuse does not blow any more than the radio is either shorted or not wired correctly.

If the fuse does still blow then we need to find out where the short is.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-wiring

Below you will find the wiring diagram that will help with this testing.

Please run through this and let us know what you find. Thanks
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Thursday, November 18th, 2021 AT 4:01 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,871 POSTS
Additional note: Very often people use an ohm meter to find the ground wire in the car's harness, then they tie the new radio's ground wire to that. In fact, there's a taillight wire going to the original radio to tell the display to dim when the head lights are turned on, and there's a dash light wire going to it to tell the display how much to dim. Both of those wires will read very low resistance to ground due to the many light bulbs in parallel, so they get mistaken for ground wires. When either wire is connected to the new radio's ground wire, there will be a direct short to ground through the antenna's outer shield. This can be proven by doing as KaseKenny1 said. Unplug the new radio. If fuses still blow, there are wires spliced together leading up to the radio.
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Thursday, November 18th, 2021 AT 4:16 PM

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