Tracking down a short

When I expand the first picture of the fuse block I can see a mean looking black dog.  I not a licensed electrical man, but this could cause a problem. Maybe he chewed into a wire

Scott

Hey I had the same problem in my 81 and it turn out to be the cigarette lighter so I just unplugged it from behind and all was fine.

I've studied the pics a while, and I see no obvious problems, with the exception of the one brown/white stripe wire that may be shorting against the pedal bracket. It's hard to tell...must think some mo...after nap...zzzzzzzzzz

I rerouted that suspect wire but I didn't have my keys on me at the time so I don't know if it helped yet.  I just don't see anything else damaged or out of place under there.  I may wait until my interior replacement project to really start ripping stuff apart in there  PSU 982007-03-31 01:22:22

Geez Stephen,
I thought I was the only one that could see the dog! Thanks for acknowledging that the dog was in fact "there". Anyway, I have great confidence that with the help of this group you will find the culprit soon. Thanks for the reply.
Scott

Do you have a good meter with a built in buzzer for checking continuity?  Ground the one wire lead off the meter and put the other lead off the meter on the wire end you pull off and if the buzzer sounds you have a dead short and then you can trace it down that way

  Electrical problems can be a PITB. I've been messing with this stuff for more years then I care to remember and have not found a easy way to solve problems. Think about the system as  the water system in your house. It has to start somewhere and end somewhere and be able to do something inbetween. The rest of the time the water just sits there. When you want water open the spout. Same with electrical. Want the radio turn it on. Powers already there. I use a digital volt meter to check wires for power and shorts. Try to isolate one component at a time in the suspect circuit. Disconnect it and turn on the circuit. If your fuse doesn't blow, you may have found your problem. If it does blow, then plug that component back in and unplug then next component and do it again. Same story. This test won't tell if the component is bad or if the wire is bad, but it will tell you whit part of the circuit is giving you the problem and you can chose to repair it or leave it disconnected until you can fix it. Hope this will help.

Just wanted to post an update -- I think I found the problem.  Drove the car to work yesterday and happened to notice that the cruise control lever was in the "on" position (on the same circuit as mirrors and radio).  So when I got home I flipped it off and replaced the 10amp fuse... started the car and I finally had a working radio and mirrors again    I'd say the issue is in the cruise control circuit!