pretty serious electrical problem
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Senior User
Joined: Apr 2004
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pretty serious electrical problem
heres the deal, cluster lights, horn and back-up lights don't work. I got the truck and noticed the fuses for the horn and the cluster illumination were missing so I replaced them and smoke started pouring from the dash and steering wheel , very screwed up I know. Does any one have any suggestions? 
Freshman User
Joined: Jun 2003
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I had the same problem. You will need a volt/light tester. Start at the battery and find the wires from the battery that are always live. There should be one wire going into two. One goes to your lights and the other the ignition. Mine were so corroded that they broke, but sounds like yours is grounded. Start near the battery and test all the wires, and find the hot ones. Usually it is a yellow one going to the two smaller ones. Just trace em and I am sure you will find the problem.
New User
Joined: May 2004
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Smoke in the Dash
I had a problem with the same symptoms. After tracing everything down, I isolated it to a corroded connection near the alternator. Follow the positivelead from the battery/solenoid towards the alternator. On my truck I had a black/red and yellow wires for switched and unswitched power to the fuse box. About 8-10 inches from the alternator, under the wiring harness wrap, there is a connection where the lead from the + battery, the black/red, yellow and two lighter gauge wires connect. This was completely corroded. The bad connection caused surges in the electrical system. I had several experiences where every light that was on, flashed/burned out. I also lost two radios, and had the smoking dash. Interesting , I did not lose any “critical” components. Good luck<o
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Joined: Apr 2004
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Neither one of the fuses you put in blew? Can you tell which of the two fuses cause the smoking or is it only when both are installed. The truck I bought has an aftermarket steering wheel intalled and they didn't hook the horn up after installing the steering wheel so the horn connection was shorted to the side of steering collumn.
One other time a dime fell into the cigarette light and the dime would short out blowing the fuse.
If you figure out what fuse is causing the problem then I would suggest getting a schematic of that circuit. and follow the wires out and see if they are touching metal somewhere. Or once you know were the circuit runs you can put the fuse back in briefly and see where the smoke comes from. I did that on a boat once and found the short under the dash. Good luck.
One other time a dime fell into the cigarette light and the dime would short out blowing the fuse.
If you figure out what fuse is causing the problem then I would suggest getting a schematic of that circuit. and follow the wires out and see if they are touching metal somewhere. Or once you know were the circuit runs you can put the fuse back in briefly and see where the smoke comes from. I did that on a boat once and found the short under the dash. Good luck.
