running lights
 

hello all i just picked up an 85 jeep cherokee and i am new to this forum looking for your guy's help.

specs
85 jeep cherokee pioneer
2.8 v6
all stock

my problem is the other day the jeep started blowing running light fuses like crazy. the fuse panel requires a 10 amp fuse for this circuit but i put a 15 amp in there for a temp and it blew it right away.so i put another one in there and the lights would come one for a while and i thought it could have been just a bad fuse. then my girlfriend calls me from work that night tellling me the running lights werent working again. so i go to her work and pull the fuse and sure enough it was blown so i do the same thing again and put another 15 amp fuse in there and it blew right when i pulled the switch on. so for s&g's i threw a 30 amp fuse in there and it blew right away. i got it home with no lights. and today i went put another 15 amp fuse in it and it stayed on for a while until i started the vehicle the fuse blew right away. so my first thought was that the trailer wiring could be an issue so i undid it from the harness. and it didnt fix the problem. next i went to the switch and i pulled the switch out. when i pulled the switch out i noticed a lot of powder comming from it so i repleced it with a new one and thought that mabe that was the problem after i got all the dash put back together and everything seemed fine. so once i started the vehicle and drove it around i went to double check the running lights and they didnt work. (frustrated) i throw a 30 amp in there because thats all i had and i turned the running lights on and they blew right away and when i pulled the fuse out the prongs were hot. im so confused i dont know where to go from here.
has any one else had this problem or have any suggestions any help is appreciated

thanks

just a thought but i had a similar problem where the rear tail lights
harness cam threw the rear side panel to the tail lights. it had woren threw where it passed threw the body hole and grounded the wire.
keep looking :)

right on the money. remove all the park lamp blubs and then put a new fuse in 10amp. then with the headlight switch turned on, begin putting one lamp in at a time until you pop that fuse.....then at least you know which lamp is shorted to power and can narrow your search.
I have a couple boxes of fuses for sale if you like..:icon_lol:

same thing was happening to my xj. it turned out to be the rear defrost wires were grounding on my hatch.
was an easy fix.

sounds like a bare wire somewhere so its shorting out

just a thought the other day i did install a new ignition switch when i tightened up the steering column (tilt wheel) and i did install a stereo bu that was the first thing i disconnected when this started.