01 Maxima “METER” Fuse blows continuously. HELP!

[Jskyh07]

Recently bought a 01 Maxima - 5 speed manual trans, aprox. 180K miles. I was told it needed an alternator but ran great so it seemed like a cant miss deal. Drove 2+ hours, jumped the car off, drove it, ran fine & shifted smooth so I didn’t really have any concerns. The guy didn’t meantion it till I got there but he had already replaced the alternator(New from O’ Reilly’s) TWICE, said his mechanic told him they were notorious for that so I was kinda hoping I could grab an original Nissan alternator from a junkyard for $40 & be set. I noticed the gauge cluster didn’t but he informed me that it went out when the alternator went out the first time so I assumed it was a fuse or another simple fix, loaded the car and came home.

Turns out, the alternator may have never went out in the first place, the (10amp) “METER” fuse was blown & it runs the entire gauge cluster(along with 20 or so other things apparently?) and from what I’ve read, the battery shaped light in the cluster completes the Battery/Alternator circuit loop meaning without power to that light in the cluster, the battery can’t charge, which is my issue. (The car will jump off and run fine until the battery dies.) I’m having trouble finding a diagram of exactly what all is going thru the “Meter” fuse and quite honestly, it’s boggling my mind, such a small thing to cause so much trouble. I’ve read every article, every forum I could find online related to a meter fuse in a Nissan, but I haven’t found one on my year or model. I would greatly appreciate any advise or suggestions & thanks in advance.

The VSS is what seems to be the most common issue from what I’ve read, I watched a video of a guy changing one out on a 2001 Maxima but once I got to where it should be, I realized that the video was obviously on an auto trans bc it looked completely different & I couldn’t find anything resembling his VSS on mine, when I search for the part, it only brings one up for an A/T so I’m not even sure I have one.

I’ve checked all battery/alternator connections, every plug, every ground I can get eyes n hands on, I’ve unplugged backup, tail & head lights and the fuse still blows immediately when I turn key over.