W124 #3 Fuse blows repeatedly
 

Hi all,
The #3 fuse that controls rt taillight, dash & console lights, lamp wipers, blew while I was driving. I replaced it and when I turned on the lights, the right tail lit up for 1 second then blew the fuse.

I've searched 19 pages of "fuse" problems and tried these suggestions:

• clean fuse holder contacts
• use cooper fuses
• check for broken wiring.

I've run through about 8 fuses so far.

I noticed that on the left tail light ALL the wires are bundled together. On the right (where the problem is) there is a brown wire that runs separately alongside the main bundle. I guessed this might have been from some previous work but I can't find anything wrong with it.

Any ideas-- or are there any posts I may have missed?

The brown is usually a ground. A loose ground will cause the lights to blink or not work, but won't cause a fuse to blow. It sounds like you have a wire that is shorting. I would start looking for a broken wire. Have you pulled the console recently? Have you done any recent work that could have broken a wire? I have a wagon so I'm not sure where the wires are routed to your rear lights, but does the harness get a lot of movement?

I'm sure someone with the sedan will weigh in and be more help.

Chris

Thanks Chris
 

Man, that was quick... thanks.

I had a radio install... I'll start looking in that direction too.

try looking along the trunk hinge
 

try looking along the trunk hinge for the two wire pair that powers the liscene plate light, mine got scrambled together and blew #3 repeadedly

The lt brown wire on the taillamp cluster is the ground. Mine was loose and it caused several lights on the console to flicker when I put the brakes on (when the console lights were turned off). I don't have the diagrams in front of me, but the taillamp harness runs along the same circuit as the 58d circuit, which runs through several lights on the console (window buttons, shifter, and 3 or 4 of the top buttons above the cc) ... I believe the radio illumination is also on this circuit, or connected to it at least. If you just had a radio installed that seems like a red flag to me. That would be the first place I would direct my electrical genius. :cool:

still looking
 

thanks everyone.
I removed the stereo and went over all the wires. the ones to the head unit and the ones that are no longer being used. I couldn't find anything there.

I'm going back to look for the the license plate wires.

58d circuit? I have to look that up:book: . They're in the shop manual electrical diagrams i hope.

o.k.
back to the garage:confused:

I found this chart very useful in conjunction with the FSM chart ... it's on this guy's Web page ... kind of hard to read, but you can get some idea ... http://web.mac.com/dakota/iWeb/Parts/Fuse.html. Hope that helps some.

this is new
 

Thanks,
I'm checking it out now...
I never heard of this. I saw you mention it in an older post and didn't know what you were referring to.
Now I see...:book:

I checked the wires to the license plate lamps. 1 side had exposed wire so I covered it.

There is a clear cylindrical fuse between the left and right lamp wires. I see it on the schematic too. That doesn't mean a lot because I don't know what it means.

What kind of fuse is it? Won't it probably need replacing by now?

Found the culprit!!
 

First,
Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions for me.

I wanted to conclude this so if anyone else is ever searching for tail lamp fuse fixes they'll have yet another thing to check.

A mechanic friend put a red (16) fuse in #3 and I turned the lamp switch on. Everything lit up properly except the right parking light.

He removed the right parking light and examined it and showed me where it had ground out. We then used the proper white (8) fuse with the parking lamp still removed. Everything worked.

He said that had the fuse #3 components not worked with the 16 amp fuse, he would've had to meter all the wiring. He said he uses this as a standard first test.

Again Thanks!