240 wagon 1987 - brake lights blowing fuses

myspv · Post by **myspv** » 09 Jun 2009, 09:51

I have been trying to sort out the no brake lights on my girl friend's wagon. She had no idea this was happening and then she got pulled over for it.
The right-side taillight assembly was melted (I'm sure we've all seen this before). I guess they begin to arc, and heat up so much until they melt the plastic. I called around to local junk yards, and no one had any good ones. So I relocated the wire on that bad connection directly to the bulb assembly rather than the pin on the taillight housing. In short order I got both taillight assemblies working properly.
The problem remains in the third brake light on the hatch. For now I have the blue wire up in the headliner unplugged. Otherwise, the #7 fuse blows instantaneously. I spent a lot of time looking for problematic grounds. I removed the right-side hinge because the wire connecting the two halves was broken, and I soldered in a new wire. I can't find any other bad grounds.
So, for now we have two functioning brake lights (center one removed completely). I'm sure others have been in my situation before. Any ideas?

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 09 Jun 2009, 12:44

What do you get when you ohm out the rest of the wiring to the 3rd brake light?

myspv · Post by **myspv** » 09 Jun 2009, 15:03

vegasjetskier wrote:What do you get when you ohm out the rest of the wiring to the 3rd brake light?

Where exactly do you mean? Can you be more specific?
IIRC, there is only one black wire (ground) and one wire which is either blue or blue-with-black-stripe.

Thanks for your response.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 09 Jun 2009, 15:11

If you put an ohmmeter on the wiring, what reading do you get? Is there a dead short to ground?