My dash and running lights went out

DMBRADY8967

MEMBER
2004 NISSAN XTERRA

My dash and running lights went out. I changed out the fuse and it lasted a day then went out again. Changed it out again and it went out again immediately. Now what could it be?

Monday, October 22nd, 2012 AT 4:01 AM

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

You got a short. The blown fuse is the result, not the cause.

A simple trick to finding a short is to replace the blown fuse with a pair of spade terminals, then use small jumper wires to connect them to a 12 volt light bulb. A brake light bulb works well. When the circuit is live and the short is present, the bulb will be full brightness and hot so be sure it's not laying on the carpet or against a plastic door panel. Now you can unplug electrical connectors and move things around to see what makes the short go away. When it does, the bulb will get dim or go out.