QuestionI have a 91 Dodge Dynasty LE 4 door with the fuse panel in the glove box.
It appears a mouse chewed off insulation on a wire in a harness.
The blown fuse is the 20 amp # 13 to the horn, lighter, door locks.
How is the easiest / best to find the short and fix it.
Thank You.
AnswerHi Bruce,
Fuse #13 is the one that powers: deck lid release and pull down, horn relay located above the glove box, cigar lighter, power door lock switch, power antenna, security alarm module, power seats, cellular phone, and air bag system. A 16 gauge red wire carries current from the fuse to all those devices via a splice behind the dash, just above the floor tunnel where many individual 18 gauge red wires branch off to the devices. All those devices have the ability to draw on the fuse when the ignition is 'off' because the fuse is connected to the battery. If you are certain that a mouse chewed the insulation off an unknown red wire then you will probably have to go the splice, open it up and separate the 9 red wires and test each to see which is shorted to ground. Do you have any idea where the mouse was living?
If not, then an alternative to the shorted wire theory is that one of those devices itself may be shorted to ground in which case you could look at the resistance to ground on the 'cold' side of the fuse #13 socket as you pull the plug on each of the devices to see if one of them causes the resistance to jump up above a dead short (0 ohms) to something more like several ohms.
Let me know if you need more specific information based upon my analysis so far.
Roland
