Brakelight fuses constantly blowing!!

[danielsan]

Hi Guys, Great site.

Can anybody help? Basically my 52 plate 2L petrol Octavia brakelight fuse keeps blowing. After replacing the fuse, both main brakelights work for a couple of seconds until the fuse blows again. All other bulbs/lights on the car appear to work perfectly.

I have found this site very handy for reference and so far I have checked and rechecked the main bulbs and replaced the brake light switch (with the funky green one) as per lots of posts here.

After this, the main brakelights worked for a couple of seconds then the fuse blew!

Could I missing something? I'm not sure if the window mounted light comes on - could it be this? Could the earthing or electrics be suspect? If so where do I start checking? Should I just take it to the dealers?!

I would appreciate any offer of help at all!
Thanks, Dan

[DGW]

Welcome to Briskoda. It might be cheaper to take it to an auto electrician rather than a dealer for this type of fault.

[danielsan]

Thanks Denis.

Sorry I posted twice by the way - stupid newbie!

[Angry Dog]

out of interest, have you checked the bulbs? could be worth replacing?

[danielsan]

Yep. Checked and rechecked - the bulbs appear okay and always work temporarily before the fuse goes.
Do you think I might have the wrong bulbs? I'd be willing to retry with new ones if you think it could work.

[Angry Dog]

for the fuse to keep blowing would suggest a short somewhere, or excess ampage. blubs are cheap to replace so its worth while.

[KenONeill]

- the other thing to consider is a bad earth causing the circuit to feed through other kit to earth itself. Have someone check for any signs of other lights coming on, and check yourself for any indication of a warning light coming on in the car.

[fordfan]

The fuse blows because too much current is drawn. A likely candidate is the power supply wire to the brakelights. This may have cut insulation which is contacting the metal body work and causing a short circuit.

You could try disconnecting the centre light light and if the fuse doesn't blow it would confirm that it has a fault.

[danielsan]

Cheers fellas,

Turns out there was a short circuit on the heated rear window connections. The plugs had worn through their casings and were touching each other (probably from me cramming stuff in the boot and knocking them together).

A bit of electrical insulation tape and only £30 labour (from a mate of a mate), the car is sorted and I'm a very happy chappy.

Thanks again for all responses,

Dan

[KenONeill]

Ok, not actually precisely what I expected, but I was on the right general lines with the idea of a short!

[DGW]

Thanks for letting us know what the problem was. It all adds to our fund of knowledge.