Hi folks. I have a friend with a 3rd generation Escort 4-door auto (not sure of the year) which has the rear lights shorted out. The fuse keeps blowing so it must be a short somewhere. The brake and turn signal lights work. The headlights work, too.

Are there any common places that this short can be and how to test? I figured I'd ask before she drops money at Midas.

is it just the tail lights or also the brake light also was any thing new added to the car like a radio or such

The radio is stock and nothing has changed recently. All of the brake lights work. The tail lights just short out and blow the fuse when turned on.

This fuse may power something else too. Got any idea what? On a lot of cars it'll power the instrument cluster.

I don't have any wiring harnesses or anything for this car, but the cluster is unaffected by th blown fuse and she didn't tell me anything else is broken.

Plus it only blows when she turns the lights on so it seems to me it is only the rear tail light circuit that is the problem, but I'm a novice when it comes to wiring so don't take my word for it.

Your right about it being a light problem since it only happens when the lights are turned on. I wonder if the switch could be bad?

I just looked at a schematic and there's something I forgot about. The 'parking lamp relay'. That could be shorted.

Can you share some diagrams? I'm not sure which relay is which.

I have a diagram but it doesn't show a parking light relay. Just a headlight relay. It must be inside that. If you can e-mail me your e-mail address I will send you the diagram. tumbleweed<at>arholloway.com

I got curious so I went out and checked on my '93 Escort. When you turn on the parking lights I could feel which relay it was that was clicking. I found that the click for the headlight relay was coming from the same relay assembly. So it a ppears they are together. I'll take a photo of the relay and e-mail it to you when I get your address.

PM sent with my address.