Thread: Brake light fuse keeps blowing

I can remember reading that some Land Rovers use the brake light system to feed the alternator.
Might be worth looking at Rave to see what else works on that fuse.
Good luck.

this may not be any help, but I recently went through quite a few fuses on my indicator due to rusted contact strips in the housing.
Thought I'd just blown a bulb, but swapped them out and it was fine.
When I checked out the housing, it looked like this.

Bad photo, but the contact strip is supposed to be a nice, shiny "S" shape, as opposed to the rusted, broken "C" shape you see above.
Have you checked the housing for corrosion? you said there was water in the brake light, could that be related?
I could be completely wrong on this (most likely) but it's something to consider
Hope this helps somehow
Cheers
Muppet

The power to your brake lights comes from the battery via link2 (big fuse under bonnet should be 60A) through the ign switch and through fuse 17 (15A, bottom row of fuses 7th from the left), green wire to brake pedal switch, and then green/purple wire to stop lights and trailer light pick-up.

Fuse 17 should be 15A, the stop lights should be 21 watt each.

Note. The same fuse feeds the reverse lamp switch, green wire from Fuse 17 to reverse lamp switch then green/brown to reverse lamp(s) which are also 21 watt.

Deano

Hello,
I had the same problem for a loooooong time I replaced the actual brake light switch as every time I stripped the switch on problems so brought one off flea bay, not a problem since.
Ian

Thanks guys. Man what an eventful day! Will post about my day later. Haven't had a chance to look further into this apart from going to a local auto electrician, but he is booked out for 2 weeks and since we are on the road didn't really want to wait that long.

I should mention I checked all the contacts in the lights and they seem fine. Water was in the reverse light, could this be the issue?

How do I check whether it is the brake light switch itself?

yeah bud i had the same thing with my 2003 disco just last week, the problem is with the water in the light, replace the globe make sure inside the globe holder is clean and dry too and make sure the light is watertight before you chuck it back in.

water = short circuits = high current = blown protective devices (fuses)

One way to find your problem without blowing heaps of fuses is to connect a high wattage (say 50w or better) light globe inplace of the fuse, a H3 type globe would be perfect with a bit of wire for the other connection.

When current is flowing in the circuit the light will glow dully, when shorted it will glow brightly. Power up the circuit (brakes on or reverse gear selected) and go and 'wiggle' wires, light globes, fittings etc. When the globe glows brightly you've found the problem. Aso check where the light cable comes out of the chassis rail for chafing and where the trailer plug wiring takes off.

Deano

If your bulb holders/sockets are clean and working without shorting out I would replace the stop light switch as the problem is erratic it may be the cause, if it's not the switch then you have eliminated another cause, Regards Frank.