Electrical (lights) gremlin!

[freeride53]

So I was randomly driving back home to San Diego Sunday night from up north.
My instrument cluster, dash lights, RF parking light, license plate lights, RR tail light went out.
Then I went and tried replacing the 7.5 amp fuse several times, but they all popped instantly.

So I have a short on the fuse #22(?) circuit and I can't figure out why.

All bulbs are ok. I even popped out the tail light insert, checked all wires and bulbs - all are a ok.

What could be causing my short R3V?

notes: I did have my trunk full'a groceries and luggage that day. 12 hours of driving.
also that same morning, I replaced my Right low sealed beam headlight.
I know that's on a different circuit but just thought i'd mention it anyhow.

everything was literally working until that night.
went and had dinner, came back and realized that something was wrong.
then i tried driving on it and got pulled over by the highway patrol.


cheers,

sina

[ak-]

I literally just finished finding the short in my passenger low beam that's been aching me for weeks.
Same story, all was good.. then all of a sudden the fuse kept popping!? And I never touched anything to begin with.

Turns out inside my euro lowbeam cap, some metal melted(?)/un soldered itself and fused power and ground connecting points together. lol? Broke the bridge between the two and all was fixed.

So maybe check the ending points to all the wires of stuff you mentioned to see if something is grounding itself where it's not suppose to.

Good luck. I hate electrical stuff.

[Gregs///M]

For the many years I've worked on vintage BMW's, many had damaged wire insulation near the tailights or under the back seats. start in the trunk and inspect the wiring harness into the passenger side, trace into the back seat area if you find nothing. Look for charring, rips, breaks, or tears in the insulation.

Worth a look. good luck

[oldmann]

I had an issue with lights that involved the rear window defrost switch.

Something inside the switch fried and I lost dash lights, one tail light, both front turn/markers and rear side markers. Would blow fuses. Not sure which ones, had an issue with headlight switch too, it got fixed while chasing down the defrost switch thing.

Chased wires for weeks, accidently turned on rear defroster and everything lit up. Replaced switch, all is good.

There is some strange wiring in these cars.