Ford Focus Estate keeps blowing fuse on brake lighrts

Hi, My '04 Ford Focus keeps blowning the brake light fuse. When I replace it, it may work for a about an hour but then the fuse blows. When the brake lights are working they are bright and no flicker etc. I replaced all the bulbs and checked the connections all look perfect. The car has never been crashed so I don't suspect a wiring loom problem. One more thing I thought it was a faulty brake light switch so I disconnected it and joined the wires at the connector but it blew the fuse as I was doing that. Fergal.

Reply to
ifewebmaster
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So you've a serious problem in the loom or the light cluster haven't=20 you then?

Could be something such as a part of the loom that's been rubbing on=20 the body and worn through the insulation. Or it could be water ingress=20 in the light cluster that's creating a dead short.

Either way, it wants investigating NOW and not just having fuses=20 replaced.

When I was working as an auto electrician a customer once brought in a=20 car that was doing the same as yours. He kept fitting bigger and bigger=20 fuses and in the end used chewing gum wrappers wrapped around the fuse.=20 In his case it was because he'd fitted a high level brake light and put=20 a screw straight through the middle of the loom. Point I'm getting at=20 is when he finally brought it in, it had melted the entire front to=20 rear wiring loom and all the wiring around the brake light feed behind=20 the dashboard right up to the fusebox. The end repair cost =A3100's. It=20 could have been resolved for a fiver.

--=20 Conor Sig under construction. Please check back when Duke Nukem Forever ships=20 and/or Windows Vista is released.

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Reply to
Conor

Now take one of the brake light bulbs out at a time and see if it still happens. I you can isolate the problem to one side or the other that will help.

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

shazzbat ( snipped-for-privacy@spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I wonder what the odds of it being related to the high-level are?

How's the wiring passed to the tailgate on these? Pins or flexy near the hinge? I can see either causing shorts quite easily.

Reply to
Adrian

The fault is more than likely in the loom that traverses the boot hinge to the high level stop lamp.

Isolate it at the car body end, and see if you are still popping fuses.

Tim.

Reply to
Tim..

An '04 should have a 3-year warranty...

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

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