Hi,

This is probably the third time I've posted in the last two years or so, but I figure maybe this time the right person will see this.

Every now and then for anywhere from a day to a few weeks, applying the brakes blows the brake light fuse (#4). I'll go through a few packs of fuses and then out of the blue the brake lights are fine for months on end. Winter, summer, it can happen anytime. Right now it is, and I'm going nuts. I live in an apartment and it's 6 degrees out. I have a covered parking spot, but nothing resembling a heated garage to work on this. This is my only car, so I end up driving all over town with no brake lights, and even worse, my girlfriend takes the thing to work (I work from home). It's gotten to the point where I'm ready to ditch this and get a "factory fresh" cheap-o like a Hyundai or something. Lack of a heated seat, that I can cope with, but no brake lights??? Argh.

So first off, I've looked over any wiring I can find; the trunk is pristine, the 3rd brake light looks fine, the sockets look fine. I have an Alldata account, so I checked out the diagram, and I think I can rule out the only other thing on that circuit, the shift-lock, as it is only energized when the ignition is on, and the fuse blows without the ignition on.

My mechanic had the car for three days after it's last bout of fuse-eating, but he could not make it fail. I love intermittent problems... He wedged the brake pedal down and wiggled every wire he could find, but no fuse blew.

Any advice? Looking at the wiring diagram, I see the circuit goes from the fuse box, up to a connector in the steering column, down to the switch, back to the fuse box (for the bulb failure relay), then I lose it until it hits the trunk. How is the wire routed from front to back? Is it under the door sills? Could someone have drove a screw through it? Does it go under any carpeting? Is there any wear point for that harness I should know about?

My only plan now is to go to Home Depot and get some medium gauge wire and some crimp splices. I'm considering running my own line from the brake switch back to the trunk and just ditching the rest of the wiring in hopes of eliminating that harness (although there's no problem with running lights, reverse lights, or turn signals). Am I nuts to try that? Is there anything I should know about those odd taillight clusters? They look good, and I don't see anyplace there could be an obvious short.

Any brain power is appreciated. Anyone near Montclair, New Jersey, if you have a warm garage and some Volvo smarts, I'll pay in beer, booze, women, money, whatever you want. I'm no mechanic, but man, can I take stuff apart. :) If I had somewhere warm to work on this thing I'd just get the girlfriend a rental for a week.

I also need to dig into the recently-dead wiper/washer switch, or I'll be driving with a dirty, salty windshield AND no brake lights. :) Ugh.

I'm desperate. Help.

I assume I'd be pouring upwards of $700 into this if I took it to the local Volvo dealership, right? I sense that they'd likely just replace every possible part until it works, but with intermittent issues, I like to *find* the cause, otherwise it's just money in the crapper.

edit: One other note, it's not a dead short; the brake lights do come on for a few seconds before the fuse blows. With the recommended 15A fuse it's maybe 1 second, a 30A about 3 seconds. Either way, in this cold if this happens at night, when I hit the brake pedal, the headlights and dome light dim a bit; that's my signal as I'm leaving the parking spot that the fuse is going to go.

(brick@fasttrackmonkey.com)