Hey guys, I have an 04 rx8 with an electrical issue somewhere. Let me explain whats happening.
The other day out of nowhere, all of my rear lights stopped working. I looked at all the bulbs, they check out fine, then on to the fuse box. The tail fuse was blown so I thought my problem would end there. After replacing the fuse, I only came to find out that my brake lights were not working at all. Then after only a short period of driving, my brights flicked on, then no more rear lights at all again. The fuse had blown again. I know that there is a stop light switch under the brake, but how can a check it with the multi-meter to know if I need to replace it or not. I replaced the fuse like 10 times already just to have taillights at least, but the fuse blows every time. Could the stop light switch not working cause the fuse to blow so easily, or do you think I have another issue on top of that somewhere. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it, but it seems like all this happened the time after it stormed like crazy, with hail and everything. Could the water have gotten somewhere its not supposed to and be causing me to short. I even used a 15A fuse to see if it would last a little longer, which it did not. If the car is not moving the fuse does not blow.

 

I couldn't follow what you were talking about but if you keep blowing fuse, you have a short somewhere.

To check the brake switch, take it out (1/4 turn and pull out), check resistance change when you press the button in and out. I don't think it's the switch though imho.

I would start with checking wire harness of all trunk wires if you think it's a short. Check all bulbs. Keep in mind that brake electricals are linked to multitude of system on an rx8 unfortunately. There is a wiring diagram floating on the web somewhere.

 

alright start doing that in the morning and will get back to you

 

Do you have a remote starter, alarm or anything else that could be wired into the brakes or headlights?

 

to narrow down the short, try disconnecting each harness one by one and measure resistance between the leads. that may help. keep in mind that sometimes resistance measures very low between positive and negative leads without short for various different reasons. but if one side is different than the other side, it may help you.

 

no remote starter or add on car alarm... so you're saying to check the connectors that go off the harness to narrow it down, right? What should be my resistance at these connections? I assume I do this with the battery connected as well? And should I replace the fuse first before checking?

 

If you can reliably blow a fuse, disconnect all the light and end devices from the fuse circuit then try to activate the devices by pressing on pedal or what not. I would continue to activate devices while plugging back the devices one by one until your fuse blows. That may help narrow it down.

 

okay sounds good thanks, I will do that once it stops raining over here lol do you know what resistance should be in those connectors tho? or voltage or current?

 

We had a few guys here in Germany who had similar Problems ... it was related to a broken connection in the rubber tube which connects chassis and trunk lid to third brake light.

Maybe this info is useful and u want to check that

 

+1 to the trunk lid conduit, almost certainly that

 

I have the section for all the lights in the back unplugged, and the brake light switch also disconnected. Now for some reason, my brights are the only thing that will turn on (does not switch between low and high beam, just stays on high beams) and once i turn the lights on, the fuse blows immediately. Any suggestions?