95 Camry Brake Light Fuse Melting

[rjburns]

Hi everyone, I recently recieved my fathers old 1995 camry coupe LE and have found that the brake lights randomly and intermintently stop working. I checked the fuses and found the fuse for the brake light to be not blown, but rather bubbly and melted around the leads. I replaced the fuse and within a couple of weeks have had the same problem. Now, whenever they stop working, I just reseat the fuse and the lights work; however, after just a few days, I have the same problem again and have to reseat them.

A neighbor suggested I check the wiring of the brake lights them selves, so I took out the trunk liner and looked for any nicks or wearing on the wiring; however, I found none.

What could be possible causes of this? Has anybody else experienced this same issue?

Thanks a ton for any help or guidance!

It appears this person had the same problem as me, just not on a camry: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/ar.../t-298821.html

[71Corolla]

Originally Posted by rjburns

Now, whenever they stop working, I just reseat the fuse and the lights work;

That's your clue. It sounds like there is arcing occuring, which can generate a fair amount of heat. It's probably best to just replace the entire fuse block, or at the very least clean the contacts.

[Mike Gerber]

This is a weird one. This is just a guess, but whenever I hear of electrical problems like this I always suggest people first open up the loom of wires in the trunk, by the driver's side trunk hinge, and look for freyed or broken wires. Several freyed wires could be touching each other, including the brake light wire, and causing a high draw on that fuse. Maybe not high enough to blow it, but hot enough to melt it. I know this is far-fetched, but it only takes a few mintues to check out.

Mike

[73sport]

^^ Good point and could be but its not blowing the fuse. It is the correct fuse yes?

I will also add that, once a fuse holder overheats it often looses spring tension which allows high resistance to build between the fuse and the fuse holder resulting in melting the fuse while not blowing the fuse. The more it over-heats the more it oxidizes and creates more resistance and more heat. Its like a thermal run away. . . .

Get a good light in there and look with the fuse removed. If the terminals contact colors are a reddish orange color this is likely the case. And if so, there are limited ways of repairing it properly. At the very least try to clean the contacts without spreading them apart any further. They need to be bare clean metal. EDIT: I forgot to say compare the color of the contact terminals to those around it. Is it the same color?

Note, there will be +12v present so disconnect the battery if you go digging around in there with something metallic!

Also, its very likely that thread up there suffered the same problem. A simple spill of pepsi can put things like this in motion!