2011 tacoma 4x4 no tail light

Have a problem with 11 taco got in a front driver quarter panel fender bender and had professional shop repair and repaint 6 mos ago. Have been driving vehicle with no issues since and suddenly got pull over for no run lights on rear. ALL DASH,RADIO ,TURNS,HEADS AND HIGHBEAMS,AND BRAKE LIGHTNWORKS SIMPLY NO REAR RUNLIGHTS... CHECKED FUSE PANEL and 10A fuse for lights is bad replaced and turn on lights immediately blows fuse and creates no tail light condition. Checked bulbs are dry clean and good.

Any recs greatly appreciated along with any wiring tips or tricks, diagrams, locations of any other plug connections (corrosion) or likely failure points? My brain says a wiring short likely but where... what areas likely for a failure be it a rubbed raw wire,a crimped wire,a hot and burnt location wire, or a moisture prone wire?

Thx gang

 

Welcome To TW....you disconnected the rear taillights?

 

First place I would check is the area where the accident damage occurred for any place where the wiring may be pinched or rubbing on something.

If you don't find anything there check in the rear for a towing converter being plugged into the harness somewhere, they are known for shorting out.

 

Not yet at work thinking unplug lights and reinstall fuse and reattach lights 1 by 1 until fuse blows?

 

Alright we unplugged both taillights and the factory connector under bed to the round towing plug... replace in cab 10a fuse for lights and as soon as lights are turned on "pop!" Fuse fails.

Now mind you turn signals all work as does low and high beams and brake lights... its only rear run lights sooo..

Popped hood and looked for damaged wiring... the main loom on firewall is in plastic corrugated conduit and electric tape connected to fire wall with straps every foot or so... I noticed a 2 inch section of that loom where all tape and shielding was ripped off. Also noticed the strap attaching to firewall[right there] was cut and never replaced. My assumption here is the body shop cut the loom loose and pulled it away as far as they could from driver fender so they could weld on the new fender.
I'm no mechanic but tried to peel back more tape and locate a nicked or skinned wire and found nothing... I'm at a loss here and body shop was months ago and don't want the blame , sadly since we just got pulled over by police for lights alerting us to the lack of run lights now I'm stuck...

Any other ideas or tests? What color are taillight wires under the hood in the main wiring loom Dark green? Any easy methods to diagnose?

Observations, all other lights work fine
The headlights (housings) feel excessively hot to the touch (maybe normal?)

 

You haven't recently added anything aftermarket to the truck (accessories, switches, radio, etc) have you?

If not it's gona come down the tracing harness and looking for any place they may have rubbed on something or have been damaged, the TAIL fuse supplies power to all the exterior parking lights as well as all the interior backlighting. All the wires in the Tail circuit are green.

 

Was going to say the same thing. Double check the wires at the tail light plugs closely again and see if you find any damage. Seems like the issue would be at the back with a wire possibly touching another or grounding to the body.

 

Are yalls taco headlights on gen2 extremely hot?
No other lights in cab or otherwise / backlighting have etc have failed.... I doubt that is is in switch as no other lights or fuses act up.... but wouldn't i have to rule switch in the troubleshooting tree also?

Also wouldn't whatever wire is nicked require to touch up against metal or water to pop the fuse?

 

Don't know I've never touched mine when it was running but light bulbs do generate alot of heat so it's not suprising, the earlier ones had a problem with the housings melting around the DRL bulbs but I'm not sure what year that was corrected.

It's all in the diagrams I posted what it feeds (I'm assuming it's the TAIL fuse that's blowing), the switch can't make it blow as it's just a signal to the Body ECU to tell it to turn the relay on.

It has to be touching ground somewhere to instantly pop a fuse.