confused on wiring

Got a 93 Hyundai Excel and we keep blowing tail light fuses, not all the time but periodocally and pretty regular, couple times a week. Also, when you press the brakes the brake lights come,,,,but so do the front marker lights, and there are no dash lights (blow that fuse too) but the turn signal lights in the dash work fine.

WHERE DO I START?

Nope all is stock

REALLY ????

I never would have figured................

Any other ideas?

Divide and conquer.

Identify every thing that is wrong - from what you listed:

blowing tail light fuses

Next, try to figure out if there is a common issue that could cause any of the above issues.  Off the top of my head (without seeing the car) I don't see any common connections between the three issues.

So, next up you would prioritize - which issue is the most severe?  To me, the tail light issue would be the biggest issue and I would start there.  Since it is a sporadic issue it will be a bit more difficult to diagnose, but I would start by examining the entire car for any physical damage that could have pinched a wire.  More then likely, you have a wire that has peeled back insulation and it is occasionally touching ground and blowing the fuse.  I would also measure the current draw on the tail light circuit and make sure you arn't more then 75% of the rated amperage of the fuse.  If you are more then 75% I would check each tail light bulb for low resistance (which leads to excessive current).

Assuming the current draw is within tolerance I would think consider individually fusing each bulb with a 3-5A fuse.  Where you place the fuses would depend completely on how the car is wired though - but the idea would be to fuse it as close to the battery, but to cover as many branches as possible.  If executed properly this will turn your tail light system in to a "zone" and the added fuses will serve as indicators as to where the problem exists.  When the fuse pops again, it may still take out the main fuse, but hopefully it will take a smaller fuse with it, too.  At that point, you can replace the main fuse but don't replace the smaller blown fuse (assuming it protects only one light).  This will leave you with only 3 (or so) working marker lights, but it will at least protect you from having 0 marker lights.  Once the "zone" has been identified you can trace that individual branch and locate the problem.

Sounds pretty easy!   :)   haha

I FOUND THE SHORT(s),,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,hooray

What I did was put a fuse in that was 20amp (instead of 10) and then just looked for the smoke..................... and wahlah, there was the short

That entire part of the harness was already crumbling the insulation under the wrap, so I have replaced all the wires with new on the entire leg of the harness.

Howie,,,,what would happen on a newer car?