Recently, I was driving my pup and then stopped by the store for a few minutes. I came out and turned the key. Nothing, not even a starter click. I was frustrated for about 5 minutes. I left the pup at the store and walked home. It's only a few blocks away. Later, I went back and it fired up no problem.

Well, yesterday I was heading back home from the mountain. While I was on the interstate, the dash lights went dark. About 5 miles I passed a trooper. He followed me for a mile and flashed the lights. I stopped and he told me that the rear end was dark. This was a bad timing due to the rain and dark. I told him that it could have been a fuse cause it just went out.

I got home and discovered that the fuse to the dash was out. I put another one in and as soon as I turned on the lights, the fuse blown. I tried a 15 amp and same thing. I went through couple with the same result. I tried starting the pup and sure enough, nothing. The starter didn't click at all. I left it alone for several minutes and it started ok again.

What could have cause this problem to short the fuse? Anyone experience anything like this before? I don't have anything on this circuit. I only ran a stereo, but I believe it's on a different circuit. Also the CB is direct from the battery.

I need help. Thanks.

Time to start looking for the short!

I cannot exactly explain the no-start problem, but repeatedly blowing fuses is not a good thing. Pull the cover off of the instrument cluster and look for pinched or worn wires.

I would also look closely at the harness feeding the ignition switch.

I would also try and find the problem before it causes a bigger problem (i.e. fire).

Good Luck
Michael

This sounds off the wall, but it has happened to me in the past.

Check your trailer wiring. The two are somehow intertwined in a way that only makes sense to an Isuzu engineer.

Ok, I just checked over all the illumination lights on the front and rear, including wires and bulbs. Didn't see anything. I looked at the trailer wires and electrical taped all the places that I think needs reinforcement. Popped in a 20 amp fuse to the #1 slot (the one that kept blowing yesterday). All lights came on. Replace the 20 amp with a 10 amp. Everything seemed to be back to normal now. I will drive this thing and see if the problem comes back. I have plans to take it to the mountain in the middle of November. Hope it will be ok.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Check/replace the flasher unit. It usually applies to the Trooper wiring, but like Jim said, there are a few very strange circuits in our vehicles. Although, if it is blowing fuses, it is very likely you have a short somewhere due to a chaffed wire.

Good Luck,
Michael

Try actually unplugging the trailer light converter, those things are a common problem. The dash lights are on the same fuse as the tail lights, at least this is true for Troopers and Rodeos.

FWIW, my Trooper had a similar situation where the fuse for the fuel pump would pop randomly, most of the time during start-ups but it could be on the road or wherever. Turned out that I had a bad alternator. I had also been having what I thought was a drained battery (probably was never charged properly). All of my weird electrical problems were probably due to the alternator surging or not charging properly.
I have since replaced it and everything is fine.
Good luck!