The fuse for the lighting in my dash blows instantaniously when I put in a new one. I obviously have a short somewhere. Any ideas where to start?

 

right behind the gauge cluster check the wiring there to start

 

Have a after market radio? There might be a exposed wire for the dimmer that was in the factory radio grounding out.
Happened to me once. because somebody didint tape it off.

 

or any wire that has been cut and not taped off, while new radio was put in, thats what happened to me.

 

i got the same problem on my 90 xj.. and i think it is the headlight switsh. i will order a new ant test it out

 

also check to see if your running lights are going out when you turn them on, assuming that this is when the fuse pops as one of your lights may have water or another type of short causing this. This is what happened to a car of mine. Payed like 150 for it to be fixed at a shop to realize that it was my side marker light that was filling up every couple of rains.

 

To anyone having this issue, does the fuse blow as soon as you turn on the headlights? Have you recently been inside the rear hatch replacing speakers? Did you happen to find a small round connector on the drivers side of the hatch that was disconnected? Did you reconnect it thinking it was for something else? If yes, pull the hatch cover back off and disconnect that wire. It is for the license plate light on vehicles equipped with factory rear tire carriers. The stock plate location is cover by a tire carrier so the plate gets moved over to keep it visible. When both connectors are plugged up it creates a ground fault circuit that blows the fuse controlling the gauge light and tail lights.

I found this out after tearing apart half of my XJs wiring trying to find a short.

 

Just to clarify what the connector looks like. This is it after I realized what the problem was and it decided to melt from the short.

 

When it comes to a wiring problem , it could be anywhere . My XJ kept blowing a 15 amp fuse under the hood constantly . Closing any of the doors or the trunk , hitting a pot hole or just driving down the road . A good friend of mine , an ACE mechanic , looked at it . After checking the obvious places , hood and dash areas . He focused on the inside of the Jeep . It ended up being the wires that goes to the brake lights . The wire bundle was ran around , not through the hole in the body it was supposed to . It rubbed the rubber coating and the paint off to where it would short out and blow the fuse . It took about 3 hours to find it . Like I said . When it comes to a wiring problem , it could be anywhere . Don't just focus in one spot .

 

I spent the weekend tearing the dash apart. Previous owners have spliced the crap out of the wiring in the dash for who knows what. I've removed the loose ends in the dash, but no help. The fuse blows immediately. The headlights stay on, when the fuse goes, but the dash lights and taillights go out. I'll have to check in the rear hatch for that wire. My son was messing around in there to see the speakers inside.

 

tell me how it goes.. i still think it's the headlight switch

 

This is exactly what was wrong with my wife's jeep cherokee limited!!!! I went right to the location you suggested and sure enough found the error connection. I disconnected the union and removed the dome 10 amp fuse (as I didn't have a spare 10 amp fuse) and placed it into the parking lights fuse house. Vwalla!!!! dash lights and tail lights You are my GOD!!!! I have been wanting to fix this but didn't know how. I spent the last 4 days replacing the rear main seal, oil pan gasket, oil filter housing gaskets, and the valve cover gaskets. My wife is going to love me when she finds out I fixed this on top of everything else!!!!! :thum bup:: thumbup::thumb up:

 

This worked for me. My 10Amp fuse kept blowing and my jeep was having all the same symptoms (Dash and tail lights out). looked at that picture, went out and unplugged it, and boom, it works perfectly now.

 

Bumping an old thread but I definitely attached that rear stereo connector the other day and was going nuts trying to find out why my 10a fuse was popping non stop and why i had no tail lights or brake lights... came on here and in 2 mins, had the solution. Thank you SO much.

 

where exactly is this wire located?