Blowing turn signal and brake fuses

I keep blowing my turn signal fuse (#16 fuse on dash side panel) and periodically, the brake / hazard fuse (#1 on dash side panel) will follow. I've narrowed it down to my right turn signal causing the turn signal fuse to pop. I've looked at the obvious places for a ground/short like my tailer plug tie in and behind the tail lights, but have not found anything yet. Harness looks good running up the frame. It has the protective plastic wrap on it and doesn't appear to be pinched anywhere. It's not a hard gnd/short because the fuse(s) don't always pop the first time a signal/brake is used. The first time this occurred was when a car pulled out in front of me and I had to lock up the brakes. In doing that, I blew my rear brake line just in front of the left rear tire. The wiring harness running along the frame right there got soaked in brake fluid. There are no harness connnectors there, but the fuse blowing seems somehow tied to that event, since they both happed at the same time. The other thing that happened during that event was that my brake pedal went pretty much to the floor due to loss of brake fluid. Could that have done something to the switch that my brake pedal works that is causing this?

ANy advise on things to check is appreciated? Is there any circuit resistance checks that may be helpful?

Thanks,

Dale

Check the wires in the harness where you say brake fluid soaked them. Also, check the bulb sockets for corrosion. Some of the light assemblies have been known to collect water.

I had to replace the brake light switch in my friend's 95 Tahoe. He was having the same problems as you. When I took the switch apart for inspection, there was a metal tab that had broken off inside and was shorting out the lights. The problem was limited to the Brake lights and Hazards.

Second thing: In the tail light assemblies, the part that the wiring harness connects into was shot. This piece screws into the lens and also holds the light bulbs. That is available from the dealer separately. The metal strips in the plastic somehow got water in them and corroded away the metal. If your problem is limited to just one corner, try exchanging your tail light assemblies and see if the problem follows that assembly. Just let them dangle to the sides of the truck while connected and have a friend tell you what he sees. Hope this helps. -Chris

The brake pedal switch sounds most likely. It first happened when I nailed the brake pedal really hard (instinct). Maybe that fast, hard, hit combined with the much further travel of it messed it up. I looked at the switch briefly - it's in a horrible location. Thanks all for the responses.
Dale

Yea, sorry about the brake light switch location. I know it sucks. But just be patient and take your time. There are way to many wires up there to get caught on and break. Remove the plastic panels up under the steering wheel. I got a little better view of what I up against. -Chris

How did you come out on the fuse issue? My '98 behaves exactly the same way, but without the brake line failure as a possible cause.

Hi Mark,

I found a wire that had its insulation rubbed through behind my front right parking light assembly. The wires come off the light plug and need to do a 90 degree turn because of whats behind the light fixture. One of the wires had vibrated against the metal long enough that it had finally rubbed through and would ground out periodically - depending on if the rubbed spot was making good contact at the time you hit your signal. I had started narrowing it down to what signal caused it or if it was the brake. It took about a week of driving it and popping fuses to determine it was my rt signal. After that, I started with the lights on the right side looking for chafed wires. Good luck.