Rear lights on my 05 wagon are not working

[nrwilk]

Apologies for bumping an old thread, but I am having this exact issue myself.

 

I am popping tail fuses any time I try to turn them on. Everything works in the rear, except my tail lights. Even brakes lights work. I checked the tail relay inside the hood fuse box by giving it 12 volts and measuring continuity across the higher-amp contacts. It's working just fine.

 

I believe this came about because I did not realize that I have CK sockets for the 7443 tail/brake bulbs in the rear and I placed standard-wired LEDs in them. One of the LEDs definitely melted, but did no damage to the harness or the wiring in it's immediate vicinity.

 

Unfortunately, something appears to have shorted further up the line when that bulb melted because even a stock, incandescent bulb will only give me brake lights. Still no tail lights.

 

Any chance LGT sedans of this model-year also had a problem with wires breaking anywhere, or was it only on the wagons?

 

Also, I'd like to check out that parking light bypass that fixed bullfrg's issue. Would anyone be kind enough to give me a tip on where to look? Or, was it just the parking light switch itself that was replaced? I have the steering column naked right now, but I can't find anything wrong so far.

 

Any tips or help would be much appreciated. Thanks!