Wa-sho

Hi there! Norway calling..
Ive searched and searched, and forund that the breaklight is a comon issue..
But i havent found an answer that cowers my problem. Hopefully some of ypu guys are a bit more knowledged in the electrical on this than me.

Sorry if i write with an accent or something, im from the other side of the pond

So. This is a 96tahoe 6,5 4x4 2doors.

It started as "usual" with the brakelight gone dead. All tree of them.
Didnt have time to check it, so drove like that for some weeks.
Then one day, out driving with my family, it started smoking from under the dash, and it smelled like an alectric fire/wire melting.
I stopped, and got everybody out. The smoke cleared, and we figured we try some moore.. No problem. (i couldnt find the fireplace)

(i dont know if this is a clue, but eventually the abs light stays on at all times now- that started 2 weeks after the fire)

So.
I oredered a brakelight switch.
When i was about to change it, i found the melted wire. On the switch harness there is one terminal with two brown cables. One of these was melted-totally. All the way to the fusebox. (or so i think. I wasnt able to follow it in the harness all the way, but there was one brown melted cable coming from the harnes, to the fuse nr18 (i think! Second row from bottom, fare right.)
-the brown cables was som melted that both of them tore apart, while trying to follow them..
So i bypassed the 18 fuse (with an inline fuse, because i wasnt able to take the fuse terminal apart) with a new cable.
I figured the other brown cable, that hadnt melted, was going to the cruisecontrol.. Dont know if this is right, but it made sense in my head.
I need brakelights more than i need cruisecontrol, so i figured that this one could just be taped, and i look into that later.

Changed the brakelight switch, and everything worked as a charm. For 30seconds.. While braking, i heared a *tick* and no brakelight. And no hazard light. Fuse nr 1 was blown. (hazard/brake)
Did this a couple of times.. And figured -i have to toss in the towel, and find a forum..

Additional info: the blinkers have always worked. The cruisecontrol stopped working a while back-dont know if it came at the same time as the brakeligjts went out.

So here i am

Hopefully.. Thanks in advance.

oldchevy

You obviously have a short in the wiring. You need to find what caused the wire to melt before you can go on as it will happen again if not corrected. The short may be between the switch and the lights. You can run a new wire from the fuse box to the switch but if there is a short at one of the lights the same thing will happen. I just wonder why the fuse didn't blow before the wire melted? Anyway check the wire harness from the switch to both rear lights for damage. Also check the sockets for bulbs as this is a likely spot for problems.