rear parking light issue

[stevebpuffin]

hey guys,
I have a slight problem and it is kind of has me lost.
Problem started when I parked my car, opened my trunk, closed it and went to put it in drive, but the shifter wouldn't shift. I knew it was either a faulty fuse, wire or sensor at the pedal. So I checked the fuse box, I think it was the #34 stopper something... any ways it keeps blowing fuses right when I go to shift the car, the very second I push the shifter button. Gotta be a wire right? somewhere under the shifter?
The other problem is that my tail lights won't light up. They work when I hit the brakes, but not the rear parking lamps. ALSO the neon barely lights when I hit the brakes, just barely when I hit the brakes on the outer edges. But the whole rear end is dark when I have my lights on with no brake applied.
Help me out here guys, thanks for any info you can come up with.
97 mark

 

[J]

Its NOT when you push the shifter button, its when you hit the brake pedal.

You Neon ballast is bad, you need to unplug it. This will prevent the fuse from blowing and allow you to drive your car.

You NEED to unplug that ballast asap, you don't want to ruin your neon brake light.

Then you'll want to contact "GLITCH" (do a search), he will help you out.

See here....

http://www.lincolnsclub.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=23458&highlight=glitch

 

[stevebpuffin]

believe it or not its right when i hit the button on the shifter. I went through about 4 fuses, everytime I heard it blow right when I pushed the button. I actually have a spare ballast from glitch. I guess Ill see in the morning how that goes... I hope thats it... fairly easy fix. thanks J i'll keep ya posted.

 

[stevebpuffin]

okay, so I made the swap. The rear neon now works when I hit the brakes. and also the #32 fuse doesn't blow anymore.
However, I still have a problem the parking lights will not light up. Totally dark in the back without brake applied. I saw that I had a couple bulbs in the back that could use a change, so i changed them. still won't light the back up.
neon will not light up for parking either. Couldn't tell if the front parking lamps were workiong or not, was too bright out. If the fronts are blown, will that effect the whole set up? Is there an inline fuse im missing? Faulty switch?
I can't seem to figure this out. HELP!

 

[stevebpuffin]

Just to update.... figured out the problem. It all happened because of the initial ballast failure. After checking `a couple forums I finally figured out the problem with the parking lamps. The standard #31 fuse was the culprit. some freaking how I looked over the blown fuse, I had to do a double take to see it..lol
Anyhow thanks for the help J!

 

[J]

Haha, glad you figured it out! No problem, heck, you did all the work, I just provided some insite on the most common cause. You even already HAD the ballast, haha.