Hope someone can help me out here. Driving to work this morning in my 2000 CTD and my Dash lights went out. Got there and check and my parking lights were also out. Checked the fuse under the hood and it was blown. Put a new on in and it blew right away. Unpluged the tag lights, inspected the tail lights, disconnected the trailer brake equalizer and the fuse blew. Dropped the spare tire and inspected the factory wiring and nothing looks bad. It has a factory radio and no fog lights. So, what do you think? Headlight switch? I pulled it and didn't see any melted plugs or wiring. What am I over looking? Thanks for any help!

 

I have heard of instances where bulbs have shorted out internally. Try removing all the bulbs and see if the fuse blows. If not you have only to decide which bulb is bad. If it still does there is some serious wire chasing in your future. Hope you have a factory service manual. I chased an intermittant short in mine for months and finally traced it to a splice buried in a wire bundle near the left headlight. Rather than try to get to it I just wired around it.

 

I have found that the majority of wiring problems occur where someone has spliced in or added to the factory wiring. Have a look at the trailer wiring or any camper wiring that has been added. Take the trailer connector apart and have a look inside. They can act like a scoop and gather up mud and slush that will form a short inside the connector.

 

Thanks. I'll keep looking!

 

mine has done the same thing 2 times. It was the switch.

 

I think I got it! Dang marker light on the running board looks like it shorted out. Thanks for everyones help.