Just finished installing a new front light/alternator harness that I bought from Lectric Limited and its gotten lot of things working that weren't before (horn/rally pack gauges, solved a problem that made all the headlights go out when you turned on the brights...), but it keeps blowing the bat/always on circuit fuse (orange wire:cigarette lighter/clock/glovebox light/courtesy light harness). I thought the problem was that I had a 20 amp fuse in there instead of a 25, but it blew the 25 too...

I have a CSM with color wiring diagrams, but as my electrical knowledge is pretty limited, I thought I'd ask for some help from the forum on where to start and how to proceed.

The old, mangled, cut/patched/recut/held together with duct tape and twist nuts harness did not have this problem. Dash harness is new too, and since all this stuff just snaps together I don't really see where I could have gone wrong.

Anyway, I'm off to the hardware store to buy more fuses!

 

Obviously there's a short somewhere. Start by unplugging everything on that circuit. Verify that unused connectors aren't shorting out to chassis ground. Install the fuse. If it still blows, you've got a fault in the harness itself. If not, plug in the connectors one at a time. When the fuse blows, you've found the problem.

 

Thanks Joe,

Good advice as always, disconnected everything and reconnected one by one. Fuse never blew, but when I disconnected the courtesy harness, I also took out the bulbs and reinserted them one by one: I believe one of the spring loaded contacts in one of the under dash housings was bent over and grounding against the case, straightened it out and all systems go!

 

Joe, quick question, I noticed my courtesy harness has an untapped female packard connector at the end of a white wire. As its the white wire, I assume its related to the doors being open. I don't think its utilized in my application, but any idea what it would be for?