its a stock 97 integra ls. just recently the horn stopped working and i didnt think anything of it untill somebody today told me my brake lights werent working. so i check the fuse and its blown. the fuse is for the horn and brake lights for those that dont know. i replace it and it blows again. so once i get off work i go to the auto store and pick up some more fuses and some new brake lamps. i went through about 10 fuses and same results. (horn works fine untill i hit the brake pedal and the fuse blows). the lights work fine as taillights but once i hit the brake pedal the fuse blows.i checked the visable wiring around the sockets and it looks good. no hack jobs or anything. one of the sockets was a little coroded so i hit it with some sand paper but then again, the lights work fine as tailights so i dont think that could be the problem.

Any ideas? i really need to fix this asap since i deliver pizzas and i have to drive all the time. and suggestions will be appreciated and feedback will be given. thanks in advance

 

Do you have any Aftermarket wiring in the car?
Stereo, Fog Lights, Gauges, Etc.?

 

A wire is probably bring pinched somewhere causing this issue...
Search around for exposed/pinched wiring.

 

Adding to mtber's post...........Pull the lights on one side, determine which side blows the fuses, and cut your trace time by 50%. Test lights are a buck at the Korean dollar store Nebraska and Fowle/South West corner..

Check inside the socket for hot wire being grounded.

Post up your results.-Bob

 

ok so heres the update. i cant find any shorts but i still havent checked all of it. but heres the update of trial and error sutff i have found. with a 20a fuse(reccomended) it blows as soon as i hit the pedal. with a 25a fuse the brakelights work when the headlights are off. once i turn on the headlights the taillights work but if i hit the brake the light kind of dims a little as well as all the lights on my car. anybody?

 

do they blow just when you turn your Parking lights on and not the headlights.....Or both?

Sounds to me that there may be a short in one pf the two brake/nighttime driving lights in the back.

Was there anything fixed or changed on the car right before this problem started?

 

well im always doing stuff to the car so yeah. when i lowered the car i pulled on one off the rear wheel sensor cables and ever since then my abs light has been on. but i dont remember if that was before or after my lights stopped working. oh and let me try to explain it a little better. with the reccomended 20a fuse it blows everytime i hit my brake pedal weither or not the headlights/tailights are on. with a large fuse and the running lights off when i hit my brake pedal it appears to work fine. but when i turn on my running lights or headlights and i hit the brake pedal all the lights in my car dim, my rpm's drop and my tailights/brake lights appear to dim and then go back to normal but dont get any brighter to signal me stopping.

heres a question, on this car the rear taillight and brakelights are the same bulb right? the bulb has two fillements and when one lights up thats the taillights and then both light up for the brake lights right?

so i went through every fuse in the car and none of them were blown. alot of them were the wrong size so i went ahead and corrected that just to make sure. ive looked all through the interior and engine bay and still havent found any sort of short.

 

Yes, If you have two filament bulbs and one of the filaments are arching inside the bulb, That will create a short and the whole electrical system can be effected.
This same problem just happened to my Work truck, All running lights, back up lights, and running lights went dead.........just because of the left bulb grounding out inside of it's self.

Try changing out the bulbs and see if that fixes everything.

 

no i already replaced the bulbs. check engine light came on today too. when it rains it poors.

 

ive noticed no one has commentented or mentioned a wire overlay. depending on the particular car's brake system is wired, using long wire/wires,pretty much bypassing everything. more simply put just run your wires directly from brake switch, to bulb, eliminating current brake circut and using the one you just created. (not sure if bulbs get all 12v?if not then use resitors to achieve the right voltagez) getting too technical but yeah.if the sytem works fine off of the circut you just made,then you def have a problem in the wires you bypassed. if break/short cant be found, use your own circut and clean it up a bit. when all else fails?