2003 nissan pathfinder blows tail lamp fuse

all other electrics ok in car, and starts and drives the car?
all exterior lamps work? brake,turns/stop ;heads?

wrong lamp, not using correct lamp shown in the glove box guide.
the lamp has 3 modes on most cars.
off all the time (disabled by a switch)
on all the time.
or door open activated.
or a fuse is blown, I check them all.
all door locks work"??
car has smart entrance control module
my guess is fuse to it blown. 1 of the 4 to it.
F10, F11,F24 named fuses
the dome does have manual on switch if it is dead
then spot and vanity lamp are dead too, that means fuses blow.above;.



discover the manual switch yet on lamp socket dome?
but the 3 fuse must be good told above first

fuses blow because of dead shorts or excess current draw
to blow a 15 amp fuse indicates a dead short
by disconnecting the rear lights , the problem is in something else you have replaced
could be a problem in the head light wiring

Look for shorts in the circuitry.

that line on that fuse is shorted, the fuse saved the fire.
we use an ampclamp DC ammeter to find the wire that is shorted
and the actual point of short.

the park-tail circuit (tail fuse, right) is the most complex of all.
20 lamps inside car, and many out side, it is the hardest to find of all shorts. but not with the tool
first check for damage behind all park lamps
i bet the fuse blows in park (1st click) not head lights. right?
side lamps the 4 front rear park lamps, some call it tail its not really tail now, was in 1920 ,not now. park is everywhere.
but the fuses can be marked tails, for fun .
imagine, calling the 2 front lamps tails. and are on .(my on going joke)
sidelamps,
the inside lamps are many too.
all dimmable lamps. so turn the dimmer down to zero and see if fuse blows now, NO?, bingo.

the best way to fix this is , visual inspections for collision damage or wire hacks in the cab.
then the fuse is pulled and circuit breaker inserted 15amp
(they sell em)
then we connent the ammeter to the wire (output of fues)
i push the switch and amps goes to infinity and the CB trips
if follow the cables, and find what line is shorted.

i missed one problem
on the rear or front 4 corners of the car may be twist lock blubs.
like 1157 or? these love to short. push in lamps never short.well not the lamp actual.
in not sure what lamps the 06 uses, but replace the brass based lamps. (in park tail ckt)

The only thing that both the brake lights and tail lights use is a ground connection. Keep in mind the warning light on the dash may be for any exterior lamp. You may need to check the sockets and grounds on all four corners of the car.

Did you have a trailer light plug installed recently for towing? If so, they wired it wrong and the result of that cuts current to your veh. lights.

There is only one circuit. You have to trace the wire from the fuse to find the short. The wire runs to all of the parking and tail lamps as well as the instrument panel, thru the dimmer. If you find connectors along the way, disconnect them to find out if the short is beyond or behind the connector, using an ohmmeter.

Had a similar problem and fixed it by installing a new headlight switch / turn signal lever. Hope this helps.

Check Trailering Wiring

you have a short somewhere, unplug the tail lamps one at a time and see if the fuse still blows. if you disconnect one and the fuse does not blow and everything else works, the problem is in the tail light assembly. if not, the short is most likely in the wiring harness which can be a bit tricky to diagnose. alldata.com/diy offers one year subscriptions to cars with all the repair info and they have excellent wiring schematics. dont forget to try the front marker lamps in addition to the tail lamps.