98 Camry: Procedure to find root cause of blown tail-light fuse

Question

Question: What are the steps and thought process to determine why excessive current has blown the tail-light fuse?

Symptom: night running lights failed to illuminate when engaging headlights.
Problem: Fuse 28 was blown.  Replacing the fuse seems to have (at least temporarily) solved the problem.
Factoid Wondering if the root cause has something to do with the unusual high blinking-rate of the left turn signal.
List of fuses found in instrument panel:

After fuse replacement, night running lights are functioning:

I would like to understand why the fuse blew and fix the root cause of the problem.

Solar Mike · Answer

Find the short - could be a faulty bulb, could be a screw hitting the wire, could be a sharp metal edge.
Use a meter or even replace the fuse with a bulb - if the bulb is lit the short exists.
Work from one end to the other checking very carefully - even the tiniest hole in the insulation could be the culprit.

98 Camry: Procedure to find root cause of blown tail-light fuse

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