Re: Locating a short circuit

Posted by HH56 On 2021/3/30 15:20:21

There are many tie ins and places for feedback between circuits so an ohm meter may not narrow things down too much.

If your car has the inline fuse between the headlight switch and instrument/reading light switch then if it is not blowing that would rule out a lot of possibilities in the dash and rear lights. If it does not then you can include all the wiring to the tail lights and dash illumination.

Can you narrow down the places to look by changing the dimmer or headlight switch combinations and have the problem go away. If you can then concentrate on just the hi or low beam or bulbs that are on when the short happens but if it is constant problem on all positions then it will probably be a matter of disconnecting one wire at a time until the problem goes away. The dimmer switch itself has been a source of problem before.

Some other common places that have been found on other year cars are anywhere the wire passes a hole in the body or chassis and at the sockets themselves. On sockets, sometimes the old wire insulation shrinks back and leaves a space where the bare conductor can touch the side of the hole where it enters into the grounded socket shell.