It wasn't the shifter. the wire for that light must be really buried.

It kept blowing fuses even with the radio harness unplugged.

SO... I figured that something had to be grounded that wasn't supposed to be.

I went over the wiring (I had a friend install the radio) Turns out that he had grounded a white wire with purple stripe. In fairness to him, it wouldnt have had current, as we were installing radio during the day. (with the light switch off obviously).

I would have thought he would have caught the color... and wondered. But alas.. it's fixed now. I tied it into the illumination wire on the radio.. and now it works like it should.

Thanks
JP

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1985 300SD
2001 Toyota Tundra - soon to be replaced with diesel truck
2006 Honda CRV