my tail lights and brake lights went out!! need quick help!! already got pulled over!

[Dennis]

i already got pulled over for this. everytime i put a fuse in for my tail lights (fuse spot 14 and 15 i believe) it blows the 15 fuse making my tail lights go out. i put a 30 amp in there and it made something under my dash smoke, smelt electrical. Anyways now i don't have any brake lights or tail lights and i need them. i put another 15 amp fuse in the 15 spot yesterday and it worked for a minute (the tails worked) but the brake lights didn't and then it blew the fuse again. I have my amp grounded to my trunk latch could that affect it? thanks for your help

[Dennis]

help please

[shepherd79]

you have some major short somewhere. sorry i don't think you will find help here.
you have to tear everything out and replace the wirring to fix this problem.

[Dennis]

so i'm screwed?

[Vinny]

Dennis, I'll look at my electrical service manual and see what I can figure out as far as cutting the circuit down to troubleshoot it a lil quicker. DO NOT EVER PUT A LARGER FUSE IN THAT THE RATED FUSE. They are there for a reason. If you smoked something my bet is you may have smoked the control box under the radio, you'r brake light circuit runs through there. The earliest I can help you will be Monday, I know thats not alot of help but its the best I can do. Do you have a multimemter? You're going to need one. Did the fuses start blowing right after you hooked up your amp ground? What other things had you done just prior to the brake lights not working. That may help narrow down where things have gone bad

[nswst8]

Pull your bulbs, check them out are the sockets corroded or have any type of residue on them. alot of the time when I come accross tail lights its due to water infiltration.

Then if this checks out start to trace the wires back through the harness to the dash, you are looking for anything frayed, bent, crimped, crushed, wet. Anything that doesn't resemble a good clean wire.

Also think back did you do any mods that may be responsible. A friend of mine always reminds me that its always something stupid.

Don't ever think that its never that simple, you'd be surprised.
Hope this helps, LOL.
Phil

[Dennis]

my tail lights went out first but my brake lights still worked. as far as i know the brake lights stopped working after i put the bigger fuse in the fuse spot 14 or 15 (not sure which one since i've been messing with them both) the only thing i did was hook up the amp, nothing else. is there anyway i could bypass the fuse box for now so i can temporarily have brake lights? the tail lights arent so important since i drive mostly in the day but i really need the brake lights.

[TINBOAT]

Sounds like your amp is hooked up wrong...does it work ? Where did you get your power source for the amp?...check for unplugged wires ie: ground wires, and make sure you didnt run a screw through a harness....
Good Luck !!!

[Dennis]

the amp works, i get power from my battery and it's grounded to the trunk latch. it used to be grounded to a bolt right next to the tail lights. the amp works fine but my lights are the problem. i haven't screwed anything into my car to have broken any connections or anything.

[nswst8]

You already smoked the brake light wires from what it sounds like, bypassing will only make things worse. You must follow the wires.

Under the hood relay box calls for 30A fuse @ the #3 position (GRN) Brake lights, #4 position calls for 20A fuse (WHT/YEL) Brake lights

I don't see anything related to under dash fuse box except the brake warning light in the dash

#14 fuse 15A (RED/BLK) taillights, vanity mirror, license plate, rear side markers, dashlight bright control unit, etc
#13 fuse 10A (YEL/RED) pwr antenna motor radio/cassette player
Hope this helps, LOL
Phil

[chriskatana]

had the same problem with mine when I first got it, the radio had been ripped out and the wires were touching the dash frame shorting it out.. check your radio intall and wires.

[soljaboy2000]

yeah, check the bulbs for corrosion my bulbs went out because of it before.

[Blkblurr]

You have nearly a dead short in your tail light circuit. I would look for pinched or bare wires touching the frame of the car. It has to be a positive wire touching a common (frame ground). Otherwise it wouldn't blow a fuse. Don't put larger fuses in because the wires burn if they are the weakest link. If you put a 30 amp fuse in and the wire was designed to handle 15 to 20 amps. the wire will melt. I would inspect the fuse box for damage or loose wires that may be touching other circuits. Look for melt damage. If you find melted insulation on wires under your dash coming from the fuse box the short is not in the fuse box but in the wires leading to the light sockets. Next I would remove the sockets and or wires from the tail lights. Isolate them from the car frame ground. If no short after putting a 15 amp fuse back in then put the wires back on the sockets one at a time until the fuse blows again. You've found the problem at that point. This is the proceedure I use when tracking down wiring problems but I also use a voltmeter.

Hope this helps

[nswst8]

Welcome to the site, just checked out your refs. Thanks for helping us floundering members.
I'll be sure to read your posts as I see them.
Phil

[Blkblurr]

Thanks Phil Glad to help

Jim

[Dennis]

tail lights still fucked, i fixed the brake lights (the fuse was taken out by someone )

[nswst8]

You see, like I said before something "Stupid"
We'll help you with that half too.
Phil

[Dennis]

my tail lights went out first but my brake lights still worked. as far as i know the brake lights stopped working after i put the bigger fuse in the fuse spot 14 or 15 (not sure which one since i've been messing with them both)

I wonder where I got that 30a fuse from?? Since my horn doesn't work I took the horns fuse, well just my luck the horn and brake lights run off of the same fuse. Thats why my brake lights didn't work.

[nswst8]

You will never know how many times I've had that same feeling.
Stupid , Stupid , Stupid , Stupid
But hey, thats what were all here for.
Glad we could help,
Phil

[Dennis]

ok i have fixed the problem. for some reason my cd player, when i pulled it out went up in smoke... but anyways, after i pulled it out, i looked into the dash and seen that the wires going to the dash light and to the cigarette lighter had the pigtail melted on it really bad. well i cut that off and now my tail lights work. thanks for all your help

[nswst8]

Again its always something "stupid", But just alittle time and patience and anything is solvable.
Glad your good to go.
Phil

[Blkblurr]

Good work man. Feels good when you find the prob.

[Magny]

LOL damn dude, welcome to the club. Same damn thing happened to me too. but I solved it quick considering the last thing i did before my fuse popped was the radio wire touching the frame.