Fuse #23 keeps blowing????

[Melspace02]

It looks like im not the only one atm with this problem. I had one reply after 30 views on e30tech and need to figure this out. I bought a new head unit which was a pioneer. My old headunit was an pioneer as well, I had to use the new wiring harness cause pioneer made some changes to the plug on the new unit. I hooked everything back up the way the old one was but this wiring harness had an remote " blue wire" and Acc " red wire" . Since the old unit didnt have either I just didnt hook them up. I plugged the battery back up and the headunit did not work. I then hooked up the acc wire to a purple wire that was just plugged off which had power and it all worked. The next day Im blowing fuses ???

This is what I posted on my thread on e30tech:



Took the license plate connectors out everything looked good. Check to see if I was getting power to the out lights with a 12v wire checker and got nothing. Wiring isnt really my area of expertise, what could I check next for a short. Right now my rear brake lights are working, only my left tail light works with lights on and headlights and front runners are working. Instrument cluster and center console lights are out behind hvac controls. Im wondering if I could have caused a short behind the head unit when I replaced it last week. Im stumped

Any direction would be greatly appreciated

[cwhiteboy]

For some reason, I can't post a reply to your post on e30tech... No one is probably responding because this is a very common problem, and there are a crap ton of threads already about it, a simple search for fuse 23 would have got it.. but since I already have it all typed out on the other site, this is how I responded....

There is a gray/red (mine looked white/red) wire in your dash behind your HU that is the illumination wire. It is either hooked up to something it should not be (like a ground wire on your HU wire harness), or its grounding out to your frame somewhere. I believe the wire sends 12v once the lights are turned on to tell the HU to dim for nighttime. Unless you have a wire specifically for a diming option on your HU, this wire should be capped off, and not used. Very common problem with E30's and aftermarket head unit installs, I did the same thing.

The first time this happened to me was actually because the PO left the wire dangling back there, and I never saw it. Once I started popping fuses, I found it after a quick search behind the head unit, grounding out on the car, and I capped it... problem solved...

Find this wire, and you find your problem.. Hope this helps..