Hey all,

have an 09 g37 sedan. Couple aftermaket mods such as sub/amp/capacitor, exhaust, headlights, taillights, lowering springs, wheels, etc. However all of these were ages ago. So there have been no additional mods to the vehicle in the last 9 years and everything has worked without issue.

Went to dinner last night and drove through some construction that had very rough road conditions close to the restaurant. As I pulled in I had the VDC and slip and abs lights all popped on in the dash. Figured it was the usual brake fluid being low and maybe being jostled around in the construction zone set off the lights.

however I went to the car after dinner and it was stuck in park. Turned on fine, the vdc slip and abs lights were still on, but wouldn’t shift out of park. Wife then let me know the taillights weren’t working. Turn signals worked but nothing else in the rear. So started doing another quick google search and saw that this combo of issues meant that the brake fuse was blown and sure enough, it was.

popped in the replacement 10am fuse and tail lights came on for a split second before they went out and fuse was blown again. Thought maybe I did something wrong so turned off all the lights and popped in a fresh fuse. Pressed the brake to turn on the vehicle and it blew again immediately.

so I eventually gave up and used the gear selector override to force it into drive to atleast get it home with a friend driving behind since the tail lights didn’t work. Now I need to figure out why it keeps blowing that fuse.

like I said, while I have plenty of aftermarket mods on the vehicle, including custom tail lights, all of that’s been on the car for almost a decade without problems. The problem began moments after driving through very rough and rutted road while bottoming out into the restaurant parking lot which makes me think something got shaken loose and is causing an electrical short somewhere?

not sure how to approach this diagnostically though so appreciate any thoughts or recommendations. Thanks!

 

Despite the stuff being on your car for awhile, the wires can get moved around and get worn and eventually break through. Very possible a wire got rubbed or pinched on something it should have. The solution would be find out what is on the circuit of that fuse that keeps blowing, and check for continuity at all the points. Start by verifying the grounds don't have a short since that would be easier. Once that is done start checking the positive wires, you may need to look for busted or bent wire looms/harnesses. And then start tracing wires. Annoying and time consuming I know.

 

Grounds can't short to ground
they already are 🧘‍♂️
get a handful of fuses and unplug the tailights and anything else on that circuit that's easy to get to.
if it doesn't blow with anything plugged in, it's not in the harness.
start plugging things in one by one and you'll find your culprit