A couple weeks ago my Anti-lock warning light wen on in my 98 Monte Carlo. I did not think much of it until a friend told me I had no break lights. I first pulled out the ABS fuse (#13) and it was good. When I put the ABS fuse back in the Anti-lock light went off. Then I checked the Stop Light fuse (#23) and it was blown. I changed the fuse and the break lights worked fine...for about 3 days.

3 days later I was driving and felt the ABS go off momentarily and the Anti-lock light came on again. Soon as I could I stopped to verify my break lights were working. Sure as can be they were not. I changed the fuse again, pressed the break pedal, and pop. The fuse blew again.

The Anti-lock light is now off, but every time I press the break the fuse pops. I am using new 15 A fuses. I am not sure if there is any relation to the break lights fuse popping and the ABS, but it seems like a strange coincidence that both happen at the same time. It also seems unlikely since they are on different circuits.

I have checked the ABS fuses under the hood and they are both good as well. I have visually checked the wires and nothing pops out at me. I am not sure where to even go next to start troubleshooting this issue. Hopefully, one of you helpful folks can shed some light on this. I am almost thinking it is a bad switch above the break pedal. Not sure how I would test that. Thanks for any help you guys may have.

 

I checked the wires in the trunk, no kinks and all the harnesses are in good shape. I removed the tail lights and inspected the sockets and bulbs. All looks good. I also took a $9 shot in the dark and replaced the stop light switch. Same issue. There is a 2nd switch above the stop light switch (not sure what it does) but I disconnected it to take it out of the equation and the fuse still popped. I am running out of things to check. Please let me know if anyone has any ideas where to look now.

 

Solved:

Seems the socket for the side marker lights corroded. Since they really are not necessary I cut them off, taped them, and tucked them away. Since they were not on the same fuse as the break lights I did not think to check them. Glad this is solved and hopefully helps someone else.