Dodge Repair: Blowing #35 Fuse on 2008 Ram 1500

Question
My 2008 Ram 1500 SLT 4x4 Quadcab keeps blowing #35 fuse.  No cabin lights or dash lights.  New fuse blows while being installed.  Any ideas?  Thanks

Answer
Hi Mike,
That fuse supplies power to the instrument cluster on pins 25 and 26 of the white 26-pin plug at the back side of the cluster. You could begin by unplugging that white plug and then trying again to see if the fuse blows or not. If it does then the problem is along the wire from the fuse socket to the cluster, where there is one splice that splits the wire into the two wires, one going to each of the pins. If it doesn't blow then you would want to look at the place where the white plug socket attaches to the circuit board to see if there is a short there. If not, then because the cluster also is related to the cabin lights and under hood light and glove box light I would suggest that you remove all the interior light bults, reconnect the white plug to the cluster and see if the fuse blows. If it does then there might well be a problem inside the cluster. If it doesn't then I would start putting the bulbs back in the sockets one at a time until the fuse blows. Then that would identify where the short circuit is that blows the fuse.
Let me know what you learn.
Roland