Hello, this is my first post. So recently ive had some electrical problems. Heres my story.. One night i was told by a random driver that both tail ligths were out but brake lights working. So the next day i change the fuse for my tail lights and they worked, however later that night after work i checked them out and now they didnt work, so i changed the same fuse again and they worked for about 10 mintues as i drove home. I then decided to just drive with my hazards the rest of the way home but that lasted about 2 minutes as my car started to fill with smoke and then my hazards and brake lights fwere toast. So i changed my tail light fuse one last time to get home, and they have been working fine since. Not knowing much about cars the next day i chaged the hazard flasher on the fuse panal, brake switch and brake lights hoping it would do something, but no such luck.
well thats its, sorry for a bit of story. I am a car noob so ill probably have to get some to fix it for me. but i apreciate any help/adice

Hi Pekim145, and Welcome to AF.

It sounds like you have an electrical short somewhere. I've had cars that did the same thing, either blowing fuses or lights out, or both.

I'm not an electrical guy though, so would recommend having a competent shop take a look at it; usually once they find it and make the repair the problems go away.

Smoke and blowing fuses usually mean a wire is short circuiting to ground in a vehicle, because vehicles use the ground to complete a circuit (instead of using two wires like in the house).

These shorts can be difficult to locate. The tool that I have is a circuit breaker and an inductive ammeter. The circuit breaker resets, so you do have to use up a whole lot of fuses. The ammeter show the direction and the large current flow in the wire so you can figure out if it is near the front or the back.

You can start a both ends of the wiring harness and work in. You can take out the tail lights and follow the harness looking for damage. My guess is it is near the rear lights. A good diagram can be helpful also.

Since you smoked something there will damage to the wiring harness somewhere. Which area did the smoke come from?

Good advice in the above post.

I also would suggest starting at the light bulbs themselves (replace them all) then look at the bulb sockets. Especially look at the front turn signal and running lights. They are pretty much out in the weather, wet etc. so in my experience they produce more trouble.
The rear lights are well protected from weather and are more reliable.

Also, do you have a trailer hitch wiring harness?? Shorts can start there, too, as it often hangs below the body in the rear, again exposed to moisture etc.

Hey. Thanks for the replys, its really good stuff guys.

I do have a trailer hitch wiring harness.
And im prety sure the smoke was coming from the front end of the car but not under the hood exactly.
Anyways thanks for help guys. This is a sweet forum.

Smoke and blowing fuses usually mean a wire is short circuiting to ground in a vehicle, because vehicles use the ground to complete a circuit (instead of using two wires like in the house).

These shorts can be difficult to locate. The tool that I have is a circuit breaker and an inductive ammeter. The circuit breaker resets, so you do have to use up a whole lot of fuses. The ammeter show the direction and the large current flow in the wire so you can figure out if it is near the front or the back.

You can start a both ends of the wiring harness and work in. You can take out the tail lights and follow the harness looking for damage. My guess is it is near the rear lights. A good diagram can be helpful also.

Since you smoked something there will damage to the wiring harness somewhere. Which area did the smoke come from?
Dude! Can you PLEASE make a siplified (layman's terms)-type write up of this process at least!!! (Sticky'd) If not any other/as well as good elec tricks you might have?

Dangit!! I have no praying smilies! :dogpile: Aloha!

Citizen...not to ignore you and sorry it took so long to reply, but electricty and electronics are somewhat mysterious to many people because you cannot see it. So the reason I haven't done a write up or a short course is well....that takes a lot of work.

A short tip is that a lot of people think of electricty as similar to plumbing and water flowing through pipes.
That is....voltage is like pressure......a small pipe is like small wires, more resistance.....large pipes allow more volume, more amperage less resistance. A broken pipe means water won't flow to the end point like a broken wire.

The math equation E=I x R should be memorized. E is voltage(electromotive force or pressure). I is inductance, measure in amps or sometimes called amperage. R is resistance, measured in ohms. E=IxR is the relationship of volts, amps and ohms.

Power is another formula and is measured in units called watts.
http://bugclub.org/beginners/math/WattsVoltsAmps.html

Since you cannot see electricty, we use a meter to measure E, I, and R. The rest, you got to do in your head or use the math.

Thanks bra! That there is getting stashed..