So I have 2001 dodge 2500 and the fuse for the tail lights and dash board keeps burning. I replaced the whole switch for the lights and that didn’t fix it. I checked all the wiring for the trailer plug and by the spare tire and still nothing. Checked the bulbs on the tail lights and the wiring and everything was good. I’m confused as hell but the fuse seems to only burn when the dome lights come on or the fuse will be good for a couple days of driving and then it’ll burn again. I’m Super confused and hoping someone has The fix for this.

 

Tail lamps and dash lights should be on different fuses.... Which fuse is blowing?

 

the fuse for the tail lights/running lights. Every other light such as brake light and turn signals work perfectly though.

 

In the junction block on the side of the dash, or the fuse in the PDC?

 

Fuse F in the PDC provides power to the headlight switch for both the tail&marker lights and the instrument panel so that checks out. However there's an additional fuse for the instrument panel lights after the headlight switch, fuse 5 in the interior fuse panel. The fuse is only 5A so I'd think if the problem is on that trunk it would blow first.
The dome light gets its power from a different fuse in the PDC so at this point I don't see that being a factor. The fact that the fuse holds for a couple days tells me there's an intermittent issue. Note that the tail lights and the front marker lights are on the same fuse F so the problem could well be upfront.

 

fuse in the PDC

 

yeah but the weird thing is the fuse for tail lights doesn’t blow right away unless I turn on the dome lights. All the other fuses are completely fine I checked every single fuse on the truck.

 

Check the grounds for the various circuits. Wonder if something is backfeeding off the tail light circuit, and sucking the fuse.

 

It's 100% reproducible that the fuse blows when the dome light comes on ? Is that only when manually turning it on via the headlight switch or also from the door switches ?

One particular quirk with the lighting is that for the tail lights etc. the switch connects power to the light bulbs. For the dome and cargo lights however the switch connects ground to the lamps. If through some wiring issue the wire for the dome light and the feed for the tail lights contact each other turning on the dome light would connect power to ground and blow the fuse.

 

yeah I’m new to all this so I’m trying to figure out how