If I can locate those switches in the engine compartment, I will disconnect them and see if one of them may be the culprit. I looked at Alldata's wiring diagrams that are more complete than Haynes and observed that there is a switch on or near the transmission that triggers the backup light and that there is another switch that senses what gear the transmission is in and supplies that information to the dashboard PRNDL indicator. No further information on the prior failures except that they most often occurred in the first few minutes of the vehicle's use. Is there something else on this fuse other than the panel lights, power windows, fan motor and backup lights? Does anyone know the location of the switch that closes when the transmission is put into reverse? The Haynes wiring diagrams are not particularly helpful because they do not show the backup lamp circuitry. I put a 20 A fuse in and it did not blow for ten seconds, at which point I took it out because I did not want to fry the wiring. Because the fuse does not blow for five seconds, it does not look like a direct short but, instead, excessive current draw from somewhere. I ruled out the AC compresssor clutch, the AC/heater blower and the power window module. Now, the fuse blows after five seconds every time I put it in reverse.

The problem has persisted for about a year - at first it was interrmittent (every week or so) and not correlated with putting the car into reverse. The backup lights do come on (for 5 seconds before the fuse blows).

I have ruled out the light failure module (disconnected it and same thing happened).

10A Gauge fuse blows five seconds after car is put in reverse.

10 amp fuse