Dome fuse blowing (interior overhead dome lights, clock, radio, smartkey, vsc)

My DOME fuse has now blown 3 times in the last 36 hours, and I'm looking for advice on next steps. Here is more information:

The vehicle is a 2005 with 267K miles. I purchased it in March 2018. I do not put that many miles on it, but I camp in it, so it idles much more than it would, otherwise.

Since looking at similar threads led me to some information about wiring behind the glove box, let me begin with some information which may turn out to be completely unrelated.

Several weeks after purchasing the vehicle, the a/c blower began cutting out. Until I had a chance to get a new one installed, I found that if I tapped on the unit with something heavy (a wrench, in this case), it would jostle the fan just enough that the motor would come on. As it turned out, after a several weeks of this, the fan just started staying on all by itself, even though it is run all night and much of the day, as mentioned earlier.

Recently, it occurred to me that it's been a month or months since I last had to tap on the blower assembly. Consequently, I decided to reattach the lower glove box, which I had removed in order to facilitate access to the blower.

A day or two after re-attaching the lower glove box, the fuse blew, cutting out the radio, dome lights, clock, etc. as well as causing the "vsc" warning light to come on. After diagnosing the issue, replacing the fuse, and re-starting the vehicle, everything appeared to have returned to operational. Remembering that I had all 4 of the interior lights tuned on, I made a mental note to avoid doing this, in case that had caused the issue.

Approximately 24 hours after the fuse first burned out, the new fuse burned out as well. This was last night. I replaced the fuse again, and again everything returned to operational.

After reading some posts on here from folks having similar issues, I decided to leave the radio off. Now just twelve hours later, the fuse has blown for a third time in 36 hours.

One culprit I seem to keep seeing people mention, although I'm not certain how it would be involved, is bluetooth. I assume people mean the integrated BT car phone feature. However, it makes me think of a secondary thing I should mention:

When I purchased the vehicle in March, it came with a 30-pin iPhone plug in the center console. It is wired into the vehicle, but it does not appear to be stock, as far as I can tell. In order to make some use of it, I attached a 30-pin BT dongle so that I can stream Pandora from my phone through the car audio.

There seems to be some fault in the cable, as it loses connection when it is held in the wrong way. To alleviate this, I secured the cable such that it stopped cutting out, and stashed it between the center console and the floor of the vehicle. It has worked fine the past few months. It makes a high pitched whine which becomes audible when the vehicle volume is high but there is no audio. I chalked this up to a poor cable attached to a cheap dongle, and figure at some point I'll just install a new stereo with integrated BT audio.

At this point, I, thinking I need to:

1. Try removing the lower glove box before replacing the fuse to see if that makes a difference.
2. Pull out my Techstream to see if there are any codes.
3. Pull the center console back out and see about rewiring what's underneath back to factory specs. (But... how???)

Any other thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for contributing to PriusChat!

 

Thanks, Bobo! That makes sense.

Before I've had the chance to check back in, there have been new developments:

1. after removing the lower glove box, I replaced the DOME fuse. It immediately blew.
2. after driving to work, parking for 2 hours, idling for 10 mins, sitting for 2 more hours, then driving from work to the grocery store, when starting the vehicle to leave from the store, now all of the dash is off (speedo, etc)

I am about to search for more info on this second issue, then maybe check all those wires behind where the glove box used to be.

:: crosses fingers ::

 

Thanks, Bisco.

When you say "multi information display," is that the same as the combination meter?

Reading other posts, it seems that it is failing and needs to be replaced

 

The combination meter has gone back to working... albeit the car occasionally adds a random horn honk when it is started, and the fuel gauge will go from 6 bars when shut off, back to 10 when restarted. Reading other threads, it seems I can expect the CM to continue to deteriorate like this until I replace it.

Now I'm left wondering if I need to replace the CM first, then see if the DOME fuse is still an issue, or if these are coincidental only, and I can fix the DOME issue first, then deal with the CM (I miss interior lights, clock, and the stereo!)

 

Thank you for the feedback. As it turns out, I somehow learned to live without while being distracted by other things in life and with the Prius.

Turning back to it now: I decided some pics might help:

9121DF56-3F42-4473-A484-DAB108CBA864 by Marcilla Smith posted Jan 23, 2019 at 10:16 AM

Above is the cable of the suspect 30 pin connector where it disappears beneath the carpet under the center console.

92061E31-4571-4A8E-9DA8-22861FDD9E6A by Marcilla Smith posted Jan 23, 2019 at 10:16 AM

This shows some text on the side of the cable, for however much that may or may not help.

3C09C7CD-71B3-4004-B226-B82041EDA70A by Marcilla Smith posted Jan 23, 2019 at 10:19 AM

Finally, this shows other wires. These other wires lead up to the rear of the underside of the center console. Do these look right?

Returning to the 30 pin wire, can I try just cutting it? I've had the dash apart before in order to replace the combination meter, however I'd prefer to so that step, if possible

 

Hi! I put it back on hold, hoping someone would maybe step in and say, "oh, I see what they did... just take the ????-colored wire and attach it to the..." That doesn't seem to be materializing, however.

Therefore, I think I am left to just cut the 30 pin wire, install a new fuse, and see what happens.

...unless you had some other idea :: raises eyebrow hopefully ::

 

So far (24 hours later), what has happened is that I got back my interior lights, radio, clock, fuel gauge memory, and lost the "VSC" dash light.

The one thing not back to "normal" so far is the keyless ignition. I'm having to insert my fob into the slot in the dash. Presumably, I have neglected to reconnect a connector under the center console :: shrugs ::

 

Thank you! It works now :: blushes ::