Dome light fuse burning out.

[Meanbeagle]

Hello all, I have a recently purchased 1987 El Camino with the 305.
On my way to work with the lights, wipers and radio on I blew a fuse. The Radio stopped working, When I parked I noticed that the dome light and door locks weren't working.
The radio fuse 10 is fine. The Dome light 20 was blown. When I tried to replace it it blew on contact. Does this mean I have a short or ground somewhere, Do I just need to undo the battery then replace the fuse?
Thanks in advance

 

[g0thiac]

Hello all, I have a recently purchased 1987 El Camino with the 305.
On my way to work with the lights, wipers and radio on I blew a fuse. The Radio stopped working, When I parked I noticed that the dome light and door locks weren't working.
The radio fuse 10 is fine. The Dome light 20 was blown. When I tried to replace it it blew on contact. Does this mean I have a short or ground somewhere, Do I just need to undo the battery then replace the fuse?
Thanks in advance

It's definitely a short but the battery isn't gonna solve the issue.

Now you should have the positive and ground undone completely yes during your tests, but the challenge here is going to find the wire that's causing such your dilemma.

Now before you start there, see if the issue happens with a larger amp fuse. And check if the connectors have anything like busted metal in there.

 

[JimmyCamino]

First place I would look is the plunger switch in the door frame that turns on/off the dome lamp. Although with multiple things going on (dome lamp and radio) it very well could be something upstream of those.

 

[fleming442]

White is the negative trigger from the door and headlight switches. It will show hot, but turns the dome light on when grounded.
Orange is 12v constant, and that's where the short is.
Remove the lighter element.

 

[Meanbeagle]

Should the radio be on a separate circuit? I'm wondering if the aftermarket radio was wired wrong? The 10 radio fuse was OK.

 

[83StreetMachine]

The previous owner who installed the radio most likely tapped into the cigarette lighter for 12v or possibly another wire on the dash/dome light circuit or at the headlight switch for illumination.

The radio is definitely the issue. Start tracing those wires.

 

[Meanbeagle]

The previous owner who installed the radio most likely tapped into the cigarette lighter for 12v or possibly another wire on the dash/dome light circuit or at the headlight switch for illumination.

The radio is definitely the issue. Start tracing those wires.

The cigarette lighter doesn't work (I didn't expect it to) so that makes sense.