I have the Hella Micro De's on my 4runner. The previous owner wired them up. The worked great until a few days ago but now they just keep popping fuses. The on/off button light comes on but the lights just didn't. I checked the fuse under the hood and it was blown so I replaced it. As soon as I turned it on the fuse popped again. I went through 2 fuses, they pop as soon as I turn them on. I am going to run through the wiring but am wondering if the relay could be bad? I don't know if they're easily checked.

 

check the ground ?

 

You've got a wiring short somewhere. I don't know how often relays go bad, but they're cheap and easy to replace so that might be a place to start. If that's not it then you probably have a wire with bad insulation somewhere, and it's shorting to ground. Check the wires, especially where they go near sharp metal bits, though with something a simple as 2 lights it might be easier to just rewire them.

 

Where are they mounted, frontbumper? The wire is probably worn where it passes through the radiator support. That will blow a fuse as soon as you turn them on.

 

The wires are in a plastic tubing all the way and all the wires are in great condition.

 

What about your ground location? As stateed before, for something this simple, its probably just as easy to rewire. At least temporarily, and if that works, then you know the problem was in your wire somewhere....If not, you know its the switch or lights. just rune some speaker wire from power to the lights, if they work, they are fine, then put in the switch, if it still works, then the lights and the switch were fine, and its the wiring, and you should just redo it. Process of elimination.

 

I just bypassed the relay and ran a power wire to the lghts and they still aren't working. I'm going to check the bulbs now. I just don't know how they both would have blown.

 

Ok, I fixed it. It was really simple The previous owner grounded on the firewall by the master cylinder. He didn't grind the paint away so it was grounding through the paint. I pulled it, grinded the paint away and regrounded it and they work perfectly.