1990 keeps blowing dash light fuse

[1990idi]

so the other night on my way home from work i get off the highway and come to a stop and my dashlights quit working, pulled the fuse and found it blown. being hopeful that it blew just because it was 25 yrs old i put another one in it. well it lasted another day or two and it blew again. just curious if these trucks have a certain known wiring issue that causes this... ive noticed alot of olfer fords dont have working dash lights.

and also whats a good trailer brake controller to wire up? going to be towing my jeep soon and would like working trailer brakes.
thanks!

 

[snicklas]

Did the running lights (not headlights) quit at the same time. I believe they should have, since they are on the same circuit. If you have trailer lights I would look there for a short. The only time I had issues with the dash lights going out, I had a short on the trailer plug and it took out everything but the headlights......

 

[drinkypoo]

I hear people like the tekonsha units. I installed an original prodigy but I haven't used it yet

 

[Ruger_556]

You have a short somewhere...

 

[1990idi]

only lights that are inop are the dash lights, i still need to locate that short its been on the backburner.... so are these trucks already prewired for installing trailer brake controllers??? never had a truck before this so im unsure of installing the trailer brake controller...thanks!

 

[OLDBULL8]

If it didn't come with a trailer towing package, it's not prewired, but you can look in the rear frame wire bundle, there may be a blue, black and Red or Orange wires wrapped up there, they would also be wrapped in the bundle by the firewall at the steering column. there may also be a 4 connector under the dash, about in the center, if it's there, then a pigtail can be purchased for hookup.

 

[1990idi]

ok so i just looked at the truck, it does have a hitch, the trailer wiring harness defnitly looks factory. i didnt see where it had been spliced in or anything like that. i looked under the steering column and didnot see any four pin connector either. i have the original sales sheet for the truck and it has equipment pkg 603... i dont know if thats the trailer pkg or not. so what do i need to do to wire a brake controller up and wha
t is a good controller to get?

 

[laserjock]

For most controllers, you need power(usually black I think), ground(usually white I think), brake light(usually red pretty sure on this one), and output to the trailer(usually Blue). That's the 4 wires they speak of. I don't know if they had the under dash pig tails in 90. Check etrailer.com and see if they sell one for that truck. If they do, start looking for it. On most of the newer trucks, it seems like they left all the necessary wires and connectors but just not the pig tails to teh controlers or a different tail light harness. As for controller recommendations, I'll be watching too. I think a lot of people like the prodigy.