i need help!!!

[shiny alero]

the other night i noticed my dash lights went out and my service vehicle soon light came on...i discoverd it was the parking lamp fuse...no big deal i changed it...well now, it blows and soon as the headlights turn on at night or i turn them on manually, it wouldnt be too big of an issuse but i dont wanna get rearended or something stupid...can someone help me out? why the hell do they keep blowing?

[number1alero]

check the wiring behind your radio...guarantee there is a bare wire in the wiring harness that is grounding on the metal... had the same exact situation, luckily it only cost me $100 to replace the wiring harness as i was covered on the extended warranty i bought when i bought the car

[shiny alero]

ok good, hope thats all it is

[antichrysler]

sounds about right.... only way fuses blow is if they get too much current and a bare wire will definitely do that

[SIUlero]

Originally Posted by number1alero

check the wiring behind your radio...guarantee there is a bare wire in the wiring harness that is grounding on the metal... had the same exact situation, luckily it only cost me $100 to replace the wiring harness as i was covered on the extended warranty i bought when i bought the car

"only" $100? I would have just wrapped it in electrical tape or, if there was a connector nearby, slid some heatshrink over it. Cost: nothing at all...cause I already have both at the house

[blindman]

ya y would u spend $100 on a harness when u can just use electrical tape to wrap it up

[shiny alero]

ok checked back there, no problems...it does it only when the lights turn on at night or i manually turn them on. im stumped and cant afford to have a shop check it out.

[number1alero]

^its farther back than just right behind the radio, its more behind the passenger side dash where it rubs, its hard to get to

id rather spend $100 to have the item repaired correctly instead of rigging it for future problems, and the wiring was stripped for about a foot along the harness

[shiny alero]

oh...shitty

[number1alero]

^yea...when i had the problem, i looked as i could smell something burning, but i never found anything, when i took it in to the dealer, they showed me that it was farther back into the dash, almost behind the passenger airbag, where there is bare metal that the wiring harness rubs against

[SIUlero]

Originally Posted by number1alero

id rather spend $100 to have the item repaired correctly instead of rigging it for future problems, and the wiring was stripped for about a foot along the harness

If you're afraid of electrical tape, run a new wire...you can get a whole roll of it for 5 bux. Using heatshrink tubing properly, which is considered a professional repair on exposed wiring (not "rigging it"), won't lead to any new problems down the road that you won't get from running a new harness through the same route. That wire will rub through again unless the source of the problem is fixed by covering the metal it was rubbing against, whether repaired with heat shrink, a new single wire, or replacing the entire harness. Now if other wires in the bunch were also worn thin (which, come to think of it, is probably the case), I could see replacing the harness as an option. But I'd save myself the labor costs and do it myself.

[number1alero]

^its a small price to pay to keep your extended warranty valid, especially on aleros where lots of expensive items can go bad that i dont feel like paying for if i dont have to, like when i had a bad catalytic converter, or the rear struts that had to be replaced