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Tail light fuse blowing

2.6K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  MrMoody  
#1 · (Edited)
Does anyone have an idea why the tail light fuse randomly blows on my wife's 05 Matrix? I can replace it (at great cost to my back and neck :p ) and it will be fine for a month or two, then randomly blow again. The car has never been used for towing, no connections added. This is the running lights, not brake lights. Who makes a circuit breaker I can put in there? :)
 
#3 ·
Fuses blow because too much amperage goes through them. This is caused by a short to ground past the fuse or a short to power before the fuse. As far as finding an intermittent short, it means going through and checking each wire for a small cut in the insulation.
 
#4 ·
Thanks guys. I guess I was hoping for some common failure point I could look for. Will have to search the hard way. Hadn't thought of looking at the bulbs themselves, will do this too. Ditto on the license plate.

I was joking about the circuit breaker but it turns out there is one, I bought it at Advance. It won't fix the problem but hopefully this will be the last time I have to cram my head under the steering column. I'm too old and fat for this.