Dear All,

Thanks you in advance for your assistance. I have been having issues with a blown Brake Light fuse on our 02 Grand Caravan. Much searching of these forums has offered several ideas but no result.

Essentially the brake lights (including 3rd level) do not work. Fuse keeps blowing but seems intermittent. A clicking noise comes from the ignition barrel area when pressing brakes. I put a new fuse in and brake lights work, but drive anywhere and it blows by the time we get there.

Things I have tried so far:

Visually inspected and changed 'suspicious' bulbs
Changed brake switch and tested - switch is good.
Inspected rear tail assemblies for shorts, grounds, corrosion etc. Cannot see anything obvious.
Inspected wiring at rear for nicks, cuts etc.
Inspected wiring from main fuse box through engine compartment, under wheel arch and into cabin through to switch. No nicks, cuts etc found.

I then discovered yesterday that the fuse will immediately blow once I shift into Reverse.

Any thoughts or assistance would be appreciated. Have spent many hours trying to figure this out but to no avail - almost resigned to putting it in the shop but wanted to get some ideas first.

Many Thanks

 

Try disconnecting the tail lamps and then shifting it into reverse to see if it blows. Trailer wiring on this?

 

Looking at a wiring diagram both the reverse and brake lights are controlled by the Front Control Module (FCM). Might try removing it and inspecting the contacts. Early 4th generation vans (yours) have had a history of corrosion at that connection between the IPM and FCM and at the IPM connections and internal to the IPM. For the reverse lighting you'd be concerned with pins 39 and 22. For the brake lights it would be pin 44.

 

Thank you for the suggestions. No trailer wiring. Will try disconnecting tail lamps and see what happens. Will also take a look at the FCM. Will report back, grateful for the help!

 

Back up lamps are fed from the BCM. The only thing the two have in common is the tail lamp assembly and connector 318 is you have trailer tow harness.

 

Correct except PCI output feeds the BCM back up light function and there is a brake lamp switch function output from pin 44 of the FCM.

 

Latest update: fuse still blows with tail lamp disconnected. No corrosion notices at FCM connectors, interestingly no wires leading to pins 22 or 39. Pin 44 also looks good. Will look to trace wires from FCM to IPM and report back.

 

I have the same issue with my 02 Caravan sport. I had a mechanic look at it and said the circuit was drawing 23amps and put a 30 amp fuse in, but this ended up blowing eventually, not sure how long it took to blow, I just noticed the other day I didnt have brake lights again. no trailer lights on my van either

 

Hi all, sorry for the delay in updating this. Had to enlist the help of a Dodge mechanic. Eventually discovered that the shifter cable was rubbing up against electrical wiring so was causing the short each time the gearshift lever was engaged. Re-routed the cable and repaired the wiring and we are good to go!

Steve45ca, have someone check your lights when you shift into reverse. This was causing my lights to blow.

 

I spent 5 hours double checking everything and found that my fuse blows when I put mine in drive with the engine running. My shifter cable isn't close the wiring harness. I removed my remote starter from the mix, and disconnected the immobiliser module and it still blows a fuse when I shift into drive... reverse doesn't do it...... I'm totally confused.