Brake lights out, fuse keeps burning out.

[zeroskater1028]

Hey whats up guys well just recently i encountered another problem. So i noticed my brake lights were out. Just when i brake not the parking lights though. So i checked the brake switch and it was good and then i checked the fuses and turns out that the brake light fuse was out. Then i changed it to a 15A and the car just keeps on burning them out. Ive gone through about 6 fuses already. Any ideas ? ? ?

[rongfk]

check your bulbs. i had a similar problem w/mine and it was the bulbs (single filament instead of two) might be your problem might not. good luck with that..

[one_eighty_180]

start with the bulbs then check for a short... happen to have leaky tails or anything of that sort?

[zeroskater1028]

Cool thanx i'll check the bulbs and leaky tails? ? ? Sorry im a little lost.

[idlafie]

The reason you are burning out your fuses is because you have an electrical short in the tail light assembly. S13's are notorious for this problem. You'll have to check the wires running to the socket which holds the brake bulb along with the ground wire next to the socket.
For some unknown reason the coating on the socket corrodes out leading to a greater electrical drain on the wiring which in turn leads to a short. If the coating on the socket hasn't corroded out, then check to see if the screws holding the ground wire haven't loosened up. A loose ground wire can also cause a short.
I've already fixed several S13's with this exact same problem. Repairs are easy...just takes a little time to do.
Id

[Jtuned_andy]

I had a problem with my brake lights not working properly so I removed the light housings from the car for inspection. When I had them off I had noticed that some of the contact mounting points had melted causing a bad ground for each of the bulb, granted mine still worked (albeit poorly) you may want to check yours for any of those problems.

[ixfxi]

whatever you do....................

DO NOT INCREASE the rating of your fucking fuse.


if a fuse blows, its for a reason. that reason is typically one: SHORT CIRCUIT

this means if the fuse wasnt thjere, theres a good chance your car would be on fire.

so if you have a short circuit, my best suggestion would be to take it to someone qualified in repairing and troubleshooting electrical problems. electrical problems are not hard to fix, but you have to understand electrical... which i'de say about 95% of 240 owners have no clue about.

[WERDdabuilder]

you have a short somewhere. same problem i had couple months back. random wire was hanging and hitting metal.

[mangoes]

i pretty much had the same problem as you. size 10 brake fuse kept blowing. turned out it was a loose exposed wire touching crap when the car moved under the passenger side wheel well. check for exposed wires and tape em up. also good idea to check your bulbs, found out one my bulbs were out also =D.

good luck!

[IRN]

i had the same problem. my passenger side front fender well harness got rubbed to shit by my fat wheels. re-wraped everything and it fixed.
Gl

[DreamN]

as the rest have said you most likely have a short.

I had the same deal, but not only with just the brake lights, day time running lights and the dash lights fuses kept going out on me as well.

checked for exposed wiring (which there were several of) and cleaned nearly all the connections (dust and grime does build up sometimes) with electrical cleaner and till this nothing no problems *knock on wood* :D

[g6civcx]

whatever you do....................

DO NOT INCREASE the rating of your fucking fuse.


if a fuse blows, its for a reason. that reason is typically one: SHORT CIRCUIT

this means if the fuse wasnt thjere, theres a good chance your car would be on fire.

so if you have a short circuit, my best suggestion would be to take it to someone qualified in repairing and troubleshooting electrical problems. electrical problems are not hard to fix, but you have to understand electrical... which i'de say about 95% of 240 owners have no clue about.

This is so stupidly simple but most people don't know. Please do not stick a bigger fuse in there than what is listed on the fuse box cover or FSM. You will overheat the circuit and burn yourself to a crisp.

You have a bad ground or a short. The circuit is drawing way too much current and it's blowing the fuse.

Others have suggested checking the bulb holder. Check ground as well.

The brake light circuitry isn't that difficult. It's just fusebox-foot brake switch-rear brake lights-ground.

[zeroskater1028]

Sweet thanx for the info. Gonna have an expert look at it tomorrow morning.

[k's_silvia2.0]

Why do you keep posting with the bold on?

[SOCAL240]

yea check the bulbs thats what happened 2 mine ! or check on the brake pedal if some plastic thing snapped off that pushes the blk button to turn on the brake lights

didd that make sense? hopefully it did

[zeroskater1028]

alright guys thanx. Dude checked it out and said that it was where the fuse went in. The thing thats supposed to be holding the fuse in (metal clamp things) were too far apart and was causing a spark. He closed it up, just bent it back, and put a new fuse in and everything is in working order once again. Thanx for the help again.