Rear Tail fuse keeps blowing

[quickywd01]

Hello everyone, the fuse for the rear tail in my wagon keeps blowing. Every time I put in a new one and I turn on the parking lights it blows. The first time it happened I noticed the third brake light was out. I changed the bulb and the rear tail fuse and then the fuse blew a day later. Anyone have any ideas on what's going on?

[quickywd01]

I just read that the lisence plate lighting and bad bulbs can be a problem. I'll look for bad wiring and replace the brake bulbs just to see what happens.

[KimMG]

Could also be a chaffed wire. Use a wiring diagram as a road map and check the wiring and connections between the switch and the lamps.

[Torch]

Remove all of the bulbs from the back and then install a new fuse, if your fuse blows you have a short in the wiring somewhere or a socket that is very corroded. Your bulbs should be fine they should blow before your fuse does, if the fuse doesn't blow with all the bulbs removed you have a bad bulb or someone installed one or more bulbs with too high of wattage rating.

Check your shop manual for what wattage of bulbs you should have installed for the various bulbs.

[quickywd01]

Newb question: So when there is no bulb installed there is still a completed circuit where electricity will still flow through? I will try that today. Thanks for the tip.

Originally Posted by Torch

Remove all of the bulbs from the back and then install a new fuse, if your fuse blows you have a short in the wiring somewhere or a socket that is very corroded. Your bulbs should be fine they should blow before your fuse does, if the fuse doesn't blow with all the bulbs removed you have a bad bulb or someone installed one or more bulbs with too high of wattage rating.

Check your shop manual for what wattage of bulbs you should have installed for the various bulbs.

[mightymoose_22]

Yes and no. WIth no bulbs installed the idea is that there should NOT be a complete circuit... Sooo... if you remove everything and the fuse still blows then you will know there is a problem in the wiring harness. If the fuse does not blow, then you can replace bulbs one at a time until you isolate the problem to a particular socket.

[12Ounce]

This particular circuit has a "curve ball" in it. Even if you pull all bulbs ... there is still a current path ... the coil in the "Park Lamp Relay". If the coil is not up to snuff, it could blow the fuse when the switch is moved to "park lamp" position.

It's a long shot ... but you may want to replace the relay.

[quickywd01]

Thanks for your help everyone. I found that the rubber hose housing all the wires going from the back to the hatch was cut and a few wires were as well. Moved that around with my fingers and it solved the problem.