brake light cut in and out mysteriously

[quantumleap]

on my 67 i have rear running lights...turn signals...hazards....but my brake lights are "iffy" just put in a new brake light switch.....the tss looks ok but im not sure its still 100%...also the radio cuts in and out like a bad short somewhere maybe...dont really know if thats related...
as for the rear end...are the rear housing for the taillights the ground? cause my lense gaskets are junk..could water intrusion be the problem?..I NEED HELP!!

[Thunderfoot]

Try taking the fuses out of the fuse box and cleaning the contacts with some Scotch-bright, clean the ends of the fuses also. See if that helps.

[quantumleap]

thanks for the tip..ill try and buff em up a bit? the ground on the radio is to a screw at the bottom of the dash..does that have to be taken to bare metal or will it still ground if its painted?

[quantumleap]

i think it is the tss thats the problem....but still havent figured out where my radio short is..electrical issues are the worst!

[fordman]

the radio plugs into a three pronged plug behind the instrument cluster. it has a inline fuse between the radio and the three pronged plug. the tail light housing ground to the bed with the screws that hold them in.

[quantumleap]

so for the radio..would an undersized in-line fuse be the problem?
and for the tail light housing..would bad taillight lense gaskets cause problems for them being able to ground?

[fordman]

undersized? in length you mean. yes that could cause it to not make proper contact in the inline fuse. the tail light gaskets being bad would make me think that there could be rust and dirt behind the housing or behind the screws. but rain leaking in around them would cause it to do it again if it go rusty.

[quantumleap]

no not in lenth..in amps ( i think thats how they are measured)...it kinda acts up more when it gets jogged around like from starting at a light or going over a bump.(if that helps)..
the taillight housings seem clean( no rust or dirt) so i think it just might be my tss..gonna investigate further tomorow on that.
thanks for the help btw

[quantumleap]

ok after installin my tss..i think i blew out the brake light contact and it blew the dome light fuse as well..now i have no power to the brake light switch and after replacing the fuse for the dome light it still doesnt work..any thoughts?

[quantumleap]

bump

[fordman]

since both fuses blew or are no good. and the same wire feeds both power sides for both fuses. then the wire or connection before it gets to the fuse box is bad or shorting some place.

[quantumleap]

its only the dome light fuse...the stop lamp/turn signal fuse never blew..still related?

[fordman]

ok i see now what you meant in the post before mine. it has to be crossed wiring soemwhere in the turn brake circut. sicne it blew the brake light fuse and it doesnt work now.

[quantumleap]

i checked the brake light fuse and that is still ok. Is there anyway it can just be the lead inside the TSS itself? i still have turn signals and hazards and running lights...just no brakes

[fordman]

check to see that the brake light wire coming out of the column has power coming out of it. if it does keep following that wire until you find where ti stops giving you power. when you do that is where the problem is at. a quick guess is to try the brake light switch. thats what happened to my 71 4wd. the switch was bad. it didnt blow any fuses but it kept me from having brake lights.