Questionmy 1996 DX toyota corolla's dash, tail, and brake lights began to stop working. Each time i replace the fuses for them, the fuses blow immediately when i turn on the headlights and/or press the brakes. What do i need to do to fix this problem? i need brake lights,tail lights, and a dash board light.
AnswerThe most common cause is at the tailights, remove the bulb holders on both sides and remove all the bulbs, look at the sockets for any signs of an electrical short, burned spots, also make sure that the correct bulbs are installed in the sockets, some of them are single contact and some double if mixed up it will blow fuses.
The other possibility is that there is a short circuit in the combination switch on the steering column, you can eliminate it as the cause by disconnecting the wire harness at the rear from the rest of the system, with the tail light harness disconnected the fuse will not blow if the tail lights are the cause, if the fuse still blows the short is foreward and it could be the switch or a short in the wire harness.
