<E36> "brake light circuit failure - see owners manual"

["Greg Stapells" <gregs@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Everyone,

I got this msg after I hit the brakes in my cara the other day.  I
checked out my brake lights, and sure enough, my 3rd high mount brake
light bulb was out. My dealer was closed so I picked up a P21W from
Canadian tire, and REPLACED IT WHILE THE CAR WAS RUNNING.

Here's where it gets interesting. 

I stopped, bought two weeks worth of groceries, got back in the car
ready to go, and CLICK, the car wouldn't start.  NO response from the
gauges at all, yet all the lights were bright.

I called BMW Roadside and they said "BMW's need a lot of power, your
battery is probably low."  So they came, boosted the car, still nothing.
Wouldn't even begin to turn over.  So they flat-bedded it to the dealer,
and I got thinking, "hey, what about the fuses?!"

So I checked the fuses and sure enough, a 15A fuse was blown.  Changed
it, my baby started!  Oh yeah!

Put the 3rb brake light bulb back in, touched the brake pedal, blew
another fuse!

Any iteas? Bad brake light switch maybe?

Thanks kindly,

Greg

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