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Just bought an 2001 Honda Accord v6 coupe, threw in a new battery, sparks, starter, alternator, and a few much needed fuses. Things were great after I finally got the alternator in except that it keeps blowing the 7.5A instrument back light fuse on the drivers side panel #9. I've spent hours searching for bad wires with no luck. I double checked the ground wire on the alternator and even took it out completely and reinstalled it just to be sure everything was set right. Yet when I drop the new fuse in the dash comes to life for roughly 10 seconds before it blows the fuse. I've been losing my mind trying to figure out whats causing it to happen. It has to be a short or bad ground but I'm not sure where else to check at this point. The negative battery terminal doesn't have the best hold on the wires so I do still need to splice that, which I'm doing today but other than that I don't know what else to check at this point. I've gone through with a multimeter to everything I can think of and spent hours sifting through dozens of forums with no luck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Skill level is intermediate, though this is my first Honda, I've owned and rebuilt an Pontiac G6, An 88 Camry, and an 03 Explorer with little to no issues. This has me throwing tools like never before!

 
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not a civic. moving to proper section.

 
Rep Power: 223

Aftermarket deck?

 
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Not that I'm aware of, everything appears to be stock save for the parts I've installed myself.

 
Rep Power: 223

Previous owner might have put the stock deck back in when they sold it. Might be worth checking the wiring back there

 
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Small bit, I was told before buying that it was throwing fuses. When I bought the car I drove it home and it was fine, after I installed a new battery and starter though prior to driving. But it ran fine. That's when I discovered the alternator was bad. After installing the alternator is when the fuse for the dash started to blow. Just tried again for reference and it blew in 3 seconds after stating the car without me touching pedals or shifter. Could it just be a bad ground on the alternator itself? I've triple check all wires at this point and they appear fine, could it be a bad sensor and if so which one should I be checking.

 
Rep Power: 223

If you're blowing a fuse you have a short.
Find the short, figure out everything that is powered by that fuse and start disconnecting things until it stops blowing the fuse. That will show you whereabouts the problem is.
Also just look around under the dash for hacked up/damaged wiring

 
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After many hours and almost a dozen blown 7.5A fuses I've found the culprit to be my brake light failure sensor!! Thank you all for the time and advice!!!!!!!!!!

 
Rep Power: 223

Glad you got it figured out 👍