Hi all,

1996 960 Wagon.
My brake lights fuse blew for the first time and I am going to do my best to clean the contacts and replace both bulbs but I am wondering if anyone can suggest any likely suspects as to the cause of the blown fuse. I have been reading about the 'brake light warning relay' but I am not sure where it is located other than under the drivers side dash. When the brake lights went out I was alerted by the brake light warning idiot light coming on very briefly and erratically. For example it did not correlate at all to when the brakes were used. I thought it was just a fluky thing but fortunately happened to be driving behind my wife while she was driving it and noticed there were no brake lights. I am kind of disappointed that the light did not just stay on as I would have expected but better something than nothing. I have read that the infamous and aforementioned brake light warning relay can be very sensitive to unbalanced pairs of lights. Another thing I need to mention is that for some reason the previous owner removed the third brake light from the tailgate. I have had the car for a while though and this is the first time the brake light fuse went awry. If anyone out there could suggest any other diagnostics I am all ears.

Thanks very much,
Jim Lee