Dash Light Fuse Keeps Blowing

I have yet to install a vehicle security system on the truck so that would not be a factor. Thanks.Michael K. Craghead

do the head unit first, then respond back

How is the fuse blowing going has it stopped now??Thanks the_DJ

Ford escort 1.6 16V

mcraghead, good intuition. in a series circuit with a blown light bulb there would be no current draw. also a power surge sufficient to blow the fuse could blow the light bulb as well. so you get zapped when you get out of your car? its called electrostatic-discharge (esd for short). synthetic fabrics are notorious esd generators, such as polyester. a few solutions to this would be, the obvious one don't wear synthetic fabrics, wear cotton, etc. find for yourself a static dissipative seatcover. before you get out of your seat touch the metal of your door so that you are at the same electrical potential and wont experience an esd event (get zapped). or you could touch your key to the metal of the door after you get out of your seat and prior to touching the metal of your door with bare hand to discharge your static charge. the arc will occur from key to metal and not from your skin to metal of door and you wont feel the ouch. prepare yourself i'm about to start preaching about esd. hehe. here's just a side point about esd, you feel the zapp when the voltage is apx. 4,000 volts + and you see the arc when its around 8,000 volts. with newer electronic components requiring less power and spaced closer together on circuit boards less than 100 volts is all it takes to destroy some components. so keep that in mind the next time you bare hand a circuit board without proper esd equipment.

I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to this. Between being sick and working all the time I just got around to pulling the headunit today. To be honest I didn't really think that the headunit, or the headunit wiring, would be the issue. The unit had basically been working just fine for the better part of a year with all functionality before this fuse blowing thing started. I did say "basically" working fine. The headunit had a problem playing certain CDs. I always attributed it to smugges on the disc or something until I noticed that I had a few brand new, just out the wrapper, CDs that it wouldn't play either. I finally got tired of the whole thing and decided to pull the unit today since it was nice. I did notice that the plastic on the crimps that I used had melted on the dimmer wire. I actually planned on having the headunit serviced since I was having the problem with the tracking/playing (not because of the fuse thing). I called Sony to inquire about the warranty and to find out where to send it. They suggested that I run a cleaner disc through the system followed by a system reset. I'm thinking, OK, maybe that will clean the lens but would it be so dirty that it would now start playing my CDs? Plus, what was the system reset for? It wasn't like it wasn't playing at all. I had no reason to even have considered doing a system reset. I thought in the end I'd just have to pull the unit again and I'd be out another fuse. Plugged it in, turned it on...Shazam!!!! It worked! The fuse didn't blow and the unit was now playing CDs that it had refused to play before. I'm so glad everything it working. Most people would leave it at that. My curiousity is peaked. What was going on in the headunit that would cause it to draw enough extra power to blow the fuse but at the same time function almost normally? Was it the cleaning or the reset that fixed the tracking/playing issue? I wish I knew. It's one thing to get it working again, but it's another to understand what the problem was. I'd like to understand the problem. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks to everyone that helped me out on this. I really appreciate all of the input. I realize that I may never know what was really wrong but if someone can enlighten me please do. Thanks again. Michael K. Craghead