Electrical Gremlins - Fuse 8 fried, no brake lights, again Options

[tadink]

Hey all -

I've done some research on the forum and looked at most / all of the electrical troubleshooting guides - but my issue has me stumped.....

71 Tub, 2.0L engine

My fuse 8 fries when the headlamps are turned on - but works fine otherwise. Well, it also fries when the wiper motor is turned on - so something is not right.

Other symptoms: When turn indicators are 'on' the e-brake big red light flashes

Upon inspection - I see that there is a jumper from my fuse 8 to fuse 9, I don't see that shown on any of the wiring diagrams I've looked at. You can see it in the pic below - a black wire from 8 to 9.

Some clever PO had a stereo system in there and much of the electronical connections are a bit 'non standard' but the stereo is long gone.

I don't have an e-brake and so the e-brake sensing wire is not attached.

As you can see from the attached pic of the fuse 8, it is not just fried but MELTED too! yipes.

Any thoughts on a process forward from here??? Can you tell anything by looking at the fuse panel that a newb like me won't notice?

note: I did get in there an clean the grounding point while I was upside down under the dash....

thanks in advance....

td

[SirAndy]

The light switch has two stages. Does it blow with the actual headlight on or does it blow already when you only turn on the dash lights?

If the latter, check the small square "defroster" light on top of the center tunnel next to the shifter.
The contacts for the light on the back can easily short out on the chassis and blow a fuse.
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