No wipers/blowers/AC

Hi,

I have just picked up a Fiat Coupe that hasn't done a great deal for he past few years.
The wipers don't work, neither do the AC or blowers.
I've located the fuse inside and it's blown. Replaced it, tried the wipers and instantly blown.
Where should I start? The stalk could be suspect? If so how does the cowling come off - I undid the screws but it didn't want to budge....

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Fuses inside engine bay are fine

First, buy a pack of fuses!

Fit a new fuse and test each item on the affected circuits one at a time, replacing the fuse each time it blows. That way you'll know exactly which circuit(s) have a fault.

Having identified what's causing the fault you'll then need to trace and check the wiring. Disconnect at the device end and test again, if fuse still blows then fault is with the wiring, if not then it's the device itself.

If the wiring has a connector at some point (most will go through at least one big multi-way plug) then disconnect there and test each side for a short to ground to narrow down the fault.

The only common place for wires to short is by rubbing on the frame of the radio behind the centre console, so I'd start there.

I would go with Graham's advice and leave the indicator stalk assembly - I've changed a number of these and apart from the old chestnut of non-cancelling indicators there's not a lot tends to go wrong there.

It's more likely a short from a frayed wire.

Thanks both.
I've had a look but I suspect it'll be near the wiper motor (although wires shouldn't be shorting there really as it's under the scuttle isn't it?)
I've handed it to an auto-sparky to find/fix depending.
I'll update once I know what it is.

Turned out the fuse blowing was the front wiper motor.
The battery drain is the aftermarket (quite old) radio being permanently live and sucking power