need some advice

My truck is blowing the fuse for the gauge cluster repeatedly... at first, no big deal and i just kept popping a new one in. now its getting old. and on top of all that, the other day i let it stay out for awhile and was running errands. all of a sudden, every electronic device in my truck slowly lost power, and then the truck sputtered and died. i have it towed to a shop where he tells me its the alternator... cool beans, thats what i figured. then an hour later, he calls me and says that he popped a new fuse for the gauge cluster, and all of a sudden, the alternator was working properly again. the mechanic is stumped... he called three other mechanics that he knows, and then called two Ford dealers, and no one knows what the hell is going on. any of you got any ideas?

 

you got a screwed up ground somewhere

 

thats kinda what i figured too, but i have no idea how to go about finding it. can you give me some pointers?

 

im not to good with vehicle wiring, but i would try googling a wiring schematic for the fuse panel to the instrument panel to show you where all your grounds are. then again your cluster could be grouding itself out and causing it. hard to say without looking at the vehicle

 

ill keep looking into, im just trying to avoid taking it to ford, but i need to figure it out before i have to drive it from FL to MD... REALLY dont want any issues on the trip.

 

She popped 12 fuses between yesterday and today. I dont have the damn time between family and work obligations... off to Ford in the morning. Damn...

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Dang, thats really not good. The problem should be pretty easy to find once they get into the wiring. Let us know what they say

 

Sure thing... just sucks because i know they are going to charge me a firstborn.

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Did you add anything? Or what else is on that fuse?

 

sum*****! i think i just figgured it out. apparently its very common for the OD wire to chafe in the steering column and it causes a short that blows that fuse (45 i think)... i want to rip my column apart and check it but the wife wants me to just let Frd deal with it... i may wait till she falls asleep and sneak out to have a look. if i can fix it by just doctoring up the wire with some electircal tape or something and be good to go, id be one happy dood.