Hello, I recently bought a 98 4runner gen 3, It's a beaut but I am having issues with it's turn signals. Every time I turn the blinkers to the left hand side it blows my fuse. It functions fine when I turn it to the right, but the left blows immediately. I just had it at the shop, they replaced the bulbs and I just pulled both lights to look for exposed wires touching metal but can't seem to find anything glaringly obvious. It does have a aftermarket stereo and a towing harness attached, which I've read on other forum posts that those could be a culprit. Only reason I mention the radio is it wasn't professionally installed.

Anyways, How would I go about locating what's happening? Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks, have a great day!

 

Isolate it to front or back, first. Unplug the wiring where it attaches to the turn signal assy. Does it still blow the fuse? Probably will buuuut...
Unplug the wiring at every point possible, and check again. When it stops blowing fuses, you found the section of wiring where the short to ground is.

Alternatively, and much cheaper in fuses, get a multimeter. Set it to ohms, lowest possible scale. Pull the negative battery lead. Multimeters in ohms mode and voltage don't mix. Again, pull the plug closest to the bulbs, and check for a short to ground in the wiring. The hot wire going to the bulbs. Again, keep pulling plugs, and check for the short to ground. When it goes away, you found the section of wiring with the short to ground in it. Again, isolate the system, front from back, then keep breaking the system into smaller and smaller sections, until you isolate the section.

If I were a betting man, I would look real hard at the trailer wiring hook up. Especially if they used the hated "vampire clips", and most do.

Good luck to ya!
Pat☺

 

I second Pat's post.

 

Towing harness.