blowing brake light fuse

[slimnottygirl]

i just bought a 2002 trialblazer and about once a week i am blowing the break light fuse. the garage has changed the brake light circut board and it still is blowing the fuse i was wondering if anyone can help???

[GM-Tech]

Good luck. Fuses that blow once a week or so are among on of the most difficult problems we face. If it's not blowing when we have it, where do we start? You'd have to just about rip out the whole interior of the vehicle to follow that wire to the fuse block. Even then, the cut in the wire can be so tiny that you can be looking almost right at it and not see it.

 

I've never seen the cicuit boards or bulbs cause a fuse to blow. Most likely, there's a wire somewhere laying against a metal bracket or other metal object and has rubbed through the insulation. Hit the right kind of bump while you're braking, the wire wiggles and pow, the fuse blows.

 

Do you have a trailer hitch? We see a lot of problems with hacked trailer harnesses that the owner himself, or some u-haul place, has installed.

 

I've also seen a few where the clips that retain the sill plate (the plastic trim on the floor that holds down the carpeting at the door opening) have cut into the harness that runs to the back of the vehicle. Just yank that sill plate (drivers side, rear) off and have a look there.