Ford: 97 Mustang V6 No dash lights, amp fuse, mustang v6

Question
Hello,

Please help! I just recently purchased a 97 Mustang V6 for my son and a week or so ago as I was driving it I noticed the dash lights went out and when I turned the dimmer they came back on for a second and then went back off and I could never get them to come back on. The headlights and dome light still worked OK. I found a 10 amp fuse that was blown and I replaced it and they began working again but I noticed that when I turned the dimmer switch they wouldn't dim but they would stay on. So I went to the local auto parts and got a new headlight switch and replaced it as well thinking that this was possibly what had caused the fuse to blow since it wasn't working properly. After replacing the switch I was able to dim the dash lights with no problem and everthing seemed fine. Well I took it out that night thinking it was OK and now the dash lights are out AGAIN!  I assume that it has blown the fuse again but I haven't looked. I have read several threads on other sites of older mustangs that seemed to have a similar problem but the fix was to replace the dimmer switch which I have already done since it is built into the headlight switch. The plug for the switch appeared to be in good shape and all of the wires that I could see looked OK too, any and ALL ideas are welcome as to what could be causing this. Thanks in advance....

The Kell

Answer
Kerry,

Somewhere you have a short. You either have a bare wire touching metal or 2 bare wires touching each other. I would start at the switch and work my way back throught the wires. This is a time consuming job but it is the only way to find the problem. Hope that this helps and good luck.


Ken