Blowing brake fuse periodically

[stu]

My 95 is blowing the brake fuse maybe 2-3 times a year, changed the bulbs, inspected the harness, etc. no improvement. I saw a post somewhere that said if you use US bulbs (which I did after the original problem) it can aggravate this, I noticed the EU bulbs had oval contacts. Maybe this is a non-issue, but I sure would like to fix this f-ing problem. BTW this car doesn't have the 4 wire brake switch, so I don't think that's it. Any clues?

[stu]

FOUND THE PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get this, the right rear taillamp assembly was shorting to the body metal. Clue was that it would usually happen when the hatch was opened and shut, so I remove the fuse and metered the current through a 10 ohm power resistor. Had my wife sit in the watch the needle, I went back and pounded, slammed, jiggled everything in the assend of the car. Banged the right rear corner of the car, short! Wiggle the taillight housing cleared the short. I added plastic caps to all the protruding bolt threads that attach the outside lens, no more trouble. I was very skeptical of the disco way BWM did the interconnect, all those exposed metal runners were begging to be shorted and they did. Damn!!

[cossieturbo]

Sounds like fun. If you are really out of your mind you could coat each metal runner with silicone, but I find the design nice for one reason. It's easy to modify the lights with jumpers and such. Oh... and you never get the bleedin "bulb retainer and housing burnout" like the other E36s have. I have fixed this issue many times on several cars.

cossieturbo