RK there is another way since I dont know what kind of meter you have .Using an ohms meter "battery powered" first calibrate the meter by touching both probes together and adjusting the calibration screw till you get zero then disconnect the negative battery cable and remove the blown fuse and connect one lead of the ohmmeter to the load side of the fuse terminal and ground the other lead to the frame a bolt etc,.Starting at the fuse box move wires around every 6" to find a short.If the needle on the ohmsmeter moves while shaking the wires your short is nearby.... ....Coug

Cougar wrote:
RK there is another way since I dont know what kind of meter you have .Using an ohms meter "battery powered" first calibrate the meter by touching both probes together and adjusting the calibration screw till you get zero then disconnect the negative battery cable and remove the blown fuse and connect one lead of the ohmmeter to the load side of the fuse terminal and ground the other lead to the frame a bolt etc,.Starting at the fuse box move wires around every 6" to find a short.If the needle on the ohmsmeter moves while shaking the wires your short is nearby....and for checking your voltage the voltmeter needs to be set to detect at least 14 DC volts or better ....Coug

Coug--

So, when I do as you outlined above, the meter should be registering nothing until the shorted is jiggled? Because when I disconnect the ground cable from the battery, I get nothing on the meter. This is what I get with the meter on & the ground cable connected to the battery:

Multimeter with ground on

I don't know if the dial is set correctly, either. Why I've been (successfully) building computers and working on all things mechanical and I don't have a clue as to how to use the meter is beyond me...

But, as you can see in the picture, I knew enough when I blew the fuse in the meter today and couldn't find a replacement how to jury rig a fuse holder so I wouldn't have to keep opening the back of the meter...


Anyway, thanks for all your help!

RK

Roadkill1962 wrote:
Cougar wrote:
RK there is another way since I dont know what kind of meter you have .Using an ohms meter "battery powered" first calibrate the meter by touching both probes together and adjusting the calibration screw till you get zero then disconnect the negative battery cable and remove the blown fuse and connect one lead of the ohmmeter to the load side of the fuse terminal and ground the other lead to the frame a bolt etc,.Starting at the fuse box move wires around every 6" to find a short.If the needle on the ohmsmeter moves while shaking the wires your short is nearby....and for checking your voltage the voltmeter needs to be set to detect at least 14 DC volts or better ....Coug

Coug--

So, when I do as you outlined above, the meter should be registering nothing until the shorted is jiggled? Because when I disconnect the ground cable from the battery, I get nothing on the meter. This is what I get with the meter on & the ground cable connected to the battery:

Multimeter with ground on

I don't know if the dial is set correctly, either. Why I've been (successfully) building computers and working on all things mechanical and I don't have a clue as to how to use the meter is beyond me...

But, as you can see in the picture, I knew enough when I blew the fuse in the meter today and couldn't find a replacement how to jury rig a fuse holder so I wouldn't have to keep opening the back of the meter...


Anyway, thanks for all your help!

RK
Read all of this lol
Your Ohms meter should be set on OHMS 1k 10k etc I just looked in Clymers and they dont give an exact setting so I assume which one does not matter also to calibrate your meter as mentioned above set the meter to OHMS that is the GREEN settings bottom right on your meter touch the probes together and use that black screw in the middle front of the meter to adjust to zero while the probes are still touching leaving the negative cable OFF the battery follow the above procedure .I am not sure why your meter blew a fuse but it looks to me you combined both procedures to make one I am going to eliminate or EDIT the OHMS one the second one.....use it I just looked and both proceedures are in Clymers sooooo hopefuly you can find it also those little test lights are cheap and you can make your own as well some wire a needle and a signal bulb....and I also read about a brake switch blowing fuses like you were refering to but try the wiring and if no short is found you may have to unhook turn signals etc and if when all of them is unhooked and you test to see if the fuse stops blowing you add them back one at a time till you find the one that is blowing the fuses ....Coug Ill be around all day you know how to find me


After looking at the pic if the battery is hooked up normal and your neg probe on the test meter is grounded you should be able to shake the harness and find a wire short according to the first procedure using voltage to detect it.