interior led wiring issue

I have a 2003 Olds alero, that I added some led interior lighting too. The power for these was run off the center console lamp power wire.

The setup was fine for a couple years, and just recently the main power wire burnt itself up. I removed, everything that was possibly connected to it, and I still have the issue of the connection being shorted. 0 volts when its suppose to be 12, and a short when checked with a continuity meter. So its grounded somewhere, obviously. Just i don't know where.

I checked all the fuses, to which, the parking lamp fuse under the hood was blown. After replacing that, nothing changed. The center console cigarette lighter has no power, neither do either of the lamps.

What do those wires connect to? I can trace them up into the dash, and over to the fuse box, but they are solid (no breaks in the wire) the whole way. So if the fuse is still unbroken, where is the common connection that is shorting these?

I had these wired in that manner, so the led lights would kick on, when it got dark enough for the DRLs to turn off (turning on the headlights and interior lights) Is it possible I shorted out the light sensor up in the front of the dash?

When you replaced the parking light fuse did the parking lights start working again?

When tracing down shorts it helps to have an electrical diagram of the circuit you are working on - that way you can isolate branches.

One great method is the "divide and conquer" method that involves cutting the wires and metering both sides of the cut wire to ground.  Typically, one side of the wire will stay at ground and the other will go to open (not shorted).  You can then work towards isolating the short.

Be careful though, some 12vdc circuits in cars rest at ground when the car is off - so you may want to do all your metering with the key in the "ON" position.

-------------
Kevin Pierson