I have a short somewhere.  I noticed last month that my blue high beam light was on, even when the truck was off.  I kinda forgot about it, hadnt driven the truck in around 6 weeks.  Went out the other day to a stone dead battery.  No lights, nothing.  Replaced the battery, and again saw the blue high beam dash light was on.

I stink with electrical.  Where to begin??

First off get a wiring diagram. Then start pulling fuses until you determine which circuit the problem is on, in this case its most likely the headlight circuit. Then start disconnecting the connectors one at a time until it goes away, that will get you to the area where the short is. You might want to look around the auto shops, there is a tool that you get can that measures current and is designed to plug in in place of a blade fuse. Otherwise a standard Digital Multimeter (DMM) is your best tool, you can check current draw and resistance.

What kind of truck do you have - Samurai or TracKick?

Here is a link to an excellent Samurai Diagram at Ack's FAQ:

http://www.acksfaq.com/diagram_color_86-88_sam.htm

If it is a TracKick, the search is a bit harder. take a look at the index to the '96 Tracker Factory Service manual Project - also at Ack's FAQ:

Scroll down to 8A and try

http://www.acksfaq.com/96-FSM-v2-8A-102_pdf.htm
http://www.acksfaq.com/96-FSM-v2-8A-110_pdf.htm

I hope that this helps!

Sorry.  87 Sammy.  Will check those wiring diagrams, thanks.

A BAD HEAD LAMP SWITCH CAN CAUSE THIS, DISCONNECTING IT CAN ISOLATE IT. ITS A GOOD STARTING POINT. ALSO, DOES IT, OR HAS IT EVER HAD AN ALARM? CK FOR ALARM WIRING BEING TAPPED INTO THE HEAD LAMP CIRCUIT UNDER THE DASH.

Yeah, i'm thinking it may be the switch.  The blue light is on, even running....until you put the highbeams on and then the light goes out.  Gonna take the steering column cover off and check into it.