'01 1.8T.
Returned from the store tonight and noticed that I couldn't see reflection of brake lights on inside of garage door when it closed. Good reason... THE BRAKE LIGHTS AREN'T WORKING!!

Simple enough, right? Just change the fuse. Did. New one blew immediately upon pressing brake pedal.

Next I removed the covers from the brake lights and unplugged both the left and right tail light assembly. Installed new fuse. Same result (blown fuse).

Any ideas?

Thanks,
JC

 

It was the center brake light. Get a load of this... Had my windows tinted about two months ago (by a guy who has done a really good job on the previous four cars I have owned)... I suppose he thought the center brake light "snapped" out. It doesn't. When he broke the plastic bosses that the mounting screws go into, he apparently thought that the thing to do was to use the longest self drilling screw that he could find and just put it any 'ol where. That's right. He got lucky and screwed it right through the + and - traces that are molded into the light unit. As it turns out, a screw shorting + and - together will indeed cause a 10 amp fuse to blow.

Going to replace the light and show up with parts in hand and see if it jogs his memory.

It a thousand wonders that I haven't been rear ended in the 8 weeks since I got my tint job done (no brake lights). Incredible.