98 Civic Instrument Panel Lights

For some reason the fuse on my instrument panel lights keep blowing out.
I'll replace it and the backlighting for my speedometer and all that good
stuff will work for one start and then the next time i try using it i'll
check the fuse again and its broken. Any Suggestions?

 

any aftermarket alarms or stereos put in recently?

 

Is your car manual or automatic? I am just making a wild guess here, but
it could be a problem with the gear position indicator.

To isolate the problem further, try replacing the fuse and then turn on
the ignition (don't start the car). See if the fuse is still fine. Step
on the brakes and check the fuse again. Then shift the transmission
from Park to Reverse. Fuse still fine? Shift from Reverse to Neutral
and check again. Go through each of the positions, and check if the fuse
blows in either position. Then tell us what you found.

 

Nothing new put in recently. This happened after i left my headlights on
one night. My battery died and then the instrument lights died so i
replaced the fuse. The fuse tends to die after i turn on the ignition of
the car. It works if you just turn on the lights without the car being on.
Then as soon as u start it up it's gone

 

Which fuse (what number) is it that keeps blowing? Does it blow:

1) When you insert the key

2) When you turn the key to "ACC"

3) When you turn the key to "RUN"

4) When you turn the key to "START"

 

My car blows the fuse for the instrument panel when i turn the headlights
on. As soon as i flip that switch it breaks the fuse.

 

Yeah the stereo has been changed and the dome light still works. I think I
tried pulling the stereo before to see if it helped but that was a while
ago and i don't remember if it was for that or something else

 

Alarm systems usually tap into the dash lights circuit (to flash the
parking lights upon lock and unlock). Do you have an alarm? After market
or Honda? Does it still flash the lights on lock and unlock?

Do the parking lights still work?

It certainly is possible that the stereo is causing problems, it does
(usually) tie in to the dash lights as well. If you remove the stereo,
does the fuse still keep blowing?

 

Thanks for the help i did end up taking the stereo out again and rewiring
the thing completely. It was the cause of the fuse blowing though i don't
know why because it was working fine for about a year the way it was
wired.