'91 Camry electrical short problem
 

Hello all! I just bought a 1991 Toyota Camry 2.0 for my wife to drive back and forth to work here in town. Everything is pretty good except for two things. The radio won't come one(the background controlled by the lights does) and the interior lights(and trunk/floor board) don't have any juice either. I checked both fuse boxes. There is one on the drivers side kick panel and one under hood. The only fuse I found labeled "radio" is a 7.5 and it's good. The dome lamp fuse is under hood and it's a 20. It was blown so I put a new one in and it blew right away. I figured what the heck and put a 30 in and it blew it too. I didn't go any further. There's an obvious short in that circuit but I don't know where to start. I also wonder if the radio would happen to be on thatdome lamp fusetoo, seeings how it's under hood and the radio fuse is in the car.I did some searching but I couldn't narrow this down.Thanks![/align]

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

Anyone?

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

The Dome fuse powers the ign, door key, courtesy, open door warning, interior, map, integration relay, digital meter, clock, ECT ECU and trunk light. Could be short any of these circuits. Might pull the integration relay (in drivers side fuse box) and see what happens. Often the wiring between the driver’s door and frame become frayed within the harness sleeve. This could result in a short. Typical wire colors going FROM the fuse power source are RED and Blue/Yellow. The radio may have 2 fuses, Radio 1 and Radio 2.

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

By pulling the integration relay, what "should" happen. It seems like everything works like it should except for the dome lights and the radio. I don't know if this is related but the ECT "power/normal" button and the "OD" off button (on the shifter)only works sometimes. On the dash there is a simple backlit panel to tell the driver what gear the trans is in and if the trans is in power mode and if the OD is on. I've noticed that these will only light up sometimes. I usually just leave the OD on and the ECT in normal. It only says normal sometimes. Thanks for the response.

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

Dome fuse powers the dome light and might also the radio memory, plus clock, radio antenna motor.

The radio has two sources of power, one to operate, the other for the memory.

The Dome circuit has a dead short some place causing the fuse to blow. Removing the relay may disconnect circuits one of that may have short. Try removing as much of the above items from the dome circuit as possible such as bulbs, unplug radio and antenna power plug, etc. Then determine if the short is still there by using a test light in place of the fuse. If it lights up power is flowing.

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

Update. I pulled the stereo and the cigarette lighter and that seemed to keep the dome fuse from blowing. I now have an interior light and a trunk light, but the dome only works when I open the drivers door. It won't come on when opening any other door or when I flip the switch to "on". This seems to be a separate issue from whatever caused the dome fuse to blow all the time. Any thoughts on this? As far as the radio and lighter, are they most likely the culprit? Thanks

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

Might check the Cig lighter for a short, this has happned before.

For the wiring on the radio try the website below:

http://www.installdr.com/Harnesses/Toyota-Wiring.pdf

Dome light should work when it switch is turned on, this ground the light bulb and completes the circuit.

Suggest checking the wiring, the Dome light circuit is ground by the door switches closing when the door is open (Red/White wire).

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

So if what you're saying is correct, Imay have a bad or dirty switch on the other three doors? I remember reading something about pulling the rubber cover off and spraying cleaner on them. The dome still won't work when switched to "on". Urgh!

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

The dome switch controls the grounding of the light bulb wiring to complete the circuit. The switch either connects the ground wire to the door switch circuit, runs it to ground to turn the light on or disconnects the ground wire so the light is always off.

If the dome light works but not the switch, the switch is the problem or when it is moved to the position to turn on the light, the circuit is not being grounded. The 3 switches may not be bad. The wiring from the switch splits into two circuits, one to the driver’s door the other to the 3 switches. As such it could be the wiring to the 3 switches. Red/White wiring.

RE: '91 Camry electrical short problem
 

Update, I haven't had achance to get the dome "on" switch to work, but I think I've narrowed the original short down to the radio or the cigarette lighter, neither of which are in the car right now. I reinstalled the radio and cig fuses and the clock actually came back on, which hadn't worked since I got it. I can't check the internals of the radio but I did check out the cig lighter. The car came from a non smoker and the inside looks brand new. No visible chaffing on its wires which also power the backlight for the ashtray. By the way, that light has always worked when the headlights are on. There is an old recall on the 91 Camry for a radio problem that may cause a fire, I wonder if this is that radio...