My wife's 96 Expedition has suddenly been blowing the #13 fuse which operates the brake lights. I have checked all the bulbs to ensure they are seated good and they appear to be. I have also replaced the brake switch on the peddal but still blowing fuses. It has a towing hitch and everything looks good there. Has anyone had this problem? Thanks for any info.

 

Follow the trailer plug wires from the plug toward the underneath of the left rear of the vehicle. There will be a couple of round plugs. Corrosion can develop at these connectors and cause all sorts of problems.

 

Thanks alloro, ill check it out.

 

per a visual surface inspection, or did you disassemble it? (assuming you mean the wiring plug-in). i alays have them corrode badly and start to mess with tail/brake light function. here in michigan i'm lucky to get a couple years out of them on our vehicles from the winter road salt.. fortunately they're cheap and easy to replace

 

Update. I unplugged all my brake bulbs and had wife step on brake while I plugged them back in. Turns out the stop light bar above the rear hatch has some sort of short or something. When I plugged in the bulbs the fuse would blow as soon as brake peddle was pushed. I removed the bulbs and have had no problems blowing the fuse. now, I just need to find a replacement wiring harness for the light bar and hope I can fix it otherwise I will just drive it without the top light bar.

 

Replace the bulb(s) in the HMSL before screwing with the wiring harness (unlikely).

 

Sorry. Forgot to mention that. I did replace all the bulbs and used dielectric grease too. Still blew the fuse. Thinking it is the wiring or perhapps the bulb receptacles as they look burnt probibly from years of use?

 

Okay, then I'd suspect the socket, especially it the fuse blows only when the bulb is present. If it were a harness issue, the presence or absence of the bulb wouldn't make a difference.

Of course, it might not be a bad idea to at least inspect the harness in case a mouse got in there and chewed on stuff. BTDT!