Brake lights

[Donnie tat]

I have a 99 Ford Explorer XLT and my power windows and brake lights stopped working and I have checked all the fuses. Does anyone have any suggestions on this prob?

 

[J_C]

Do you mean that your brake lights don't work when you hit the brake pedal, or only that they don't work as parking lights that come on with the rest?

If they don't come on when you hit the brake pedal then I suspect you have two separate problems. If they don't come on with parking lights then I'd wonder if you have a GEM failure or a relay failed.

 

[SupaSwope]

Not to thread highjack but I have a buddy with a gen 2 having a similar issue. His rear tail lights do not come on when he presses the break. They rail tail lights do work when the lights are turned on but not when the breaks are pressed. Here is the kicker and also may help the find the issue. The third brake light does always work.

 

[J_C]

^ I would guess a break in the wire in that case, to trace it back to the pedal switch, or the switch itself.

 

[Donnie tat]

Do you mean that your brake lights don't work when you hit the brake pedal, or only that they don't work as parking lights that come on with the rest?

If they don't come on when you hit the brake pedal then I suspect you have two separate problems. If they don't come on with parking lights then I'd wonder if you have a GEM failure or a relay failed.

They came on but after a couple minutes the fuse blew and now they blow the fuse as soon as I press the pedal

 

[koda2000]

Do you have a trailer wiring harness on your truck?

The fuse is blowing because you have a short to ground on the brake light circuit. Very often this is caused by a bare wire on a trailer wiring harness. If you have a trailer harness, examine the wires closely for any worn or pinched spots.

As your power windows are also involved, it could also be a broken wire in the driver's door wiring loom that's shorting out. This is also a fairly common issue. Best way to examine the door related wires is to remove the driver's door (which sounds hard to do, but really is quite easy) pull back the rubber covering and check each wire.