Does anyone know if these go bad and causes fuses to pop. I seem to blow the stop light fuse when I turn the lights on and attempt to adjust the instrument cluster backlights.

The first thing you need to check is the tailight's ground and for proper wiring to the sockets, and check for ground doesn't mean 'looks okay.'

There are more birds with tailights wired incorrectly than correcly wired ones. Ever hear of people saying that there is a wiring glitch in the tailights, implying it's factory, osmosis, or a short? Yeah, it's a short all right, in the installer's brain.

Poor ground and inverted socket/bulb (or a combination) installation can cause a fasinating list of problems, and the list goes on and on. Many defy logic, being great-great nephews of Uncle Murphy.

I'm not ruling out the switch. The point is that instead of start throwing money at this problem, you need to make 100% sure that there is no ground problem, inverted wire connections and inverted bulbs.

QUOTE: and attempt to adjust the instrument cluster backlights
If it blows when you are attempting something... then usually, it a problem in the area where you are 'attempting'. Since the printed circuit is known for many blown fuses, that is the usual suspect here.

The dash lights went out one night.
Did'nt know tail lamps where out till a patrol car stopped me.
Might of happened while braking.
Used the lighter fuse to get me home.
Didnt blow another fuse for couple weeks.
Found bad grounds in tail lamps.

Bad grounds do not generally cause blown fuses...

I had a nasty problem on my prevous '80 T/A. When the bright lights were on and I would step on the brakes, I would blow fuses and would loose the headlights and dash lights.

I took the car to an auto repair place that specialized in electrical issues. He found a problem "behind the fuse panel" and fixed it. One of the best $90 I have ever spent.

Just don't brake.

- Jake

Bad grounds do not generally cause blown fuses

The difference between tossing around a list of googled information and working knowledge speaks loud and clear.

Go ahead, rip the car apart. Myself, I would verify correct light operation as the first source

Salmon
He found a problem "behind the fuse panel"
Specialize in electrical issues? Such a term reeks of a team of crooks, and the termology has the classic fog factor that crooks use. That's the claim, and it could have been the easiest 90 bucks the tech ever made.

Maybe not, but that was the problem on mine.
Not sure if it happened during braking or not.
Never noticed...probly cause my eye's where watching the road, not the dash.
BTY, i like the dash dimmed, not bright.

Yah. I said 'generally' because it's usually a 'short' that causes a blown fuse, not a bad ground.
And Mervyn, Google on this....

If it shorts only when you adjust the dimmer then it's likely a short to ground at the rheostat in the headlight switch. Check the panel ground plate to be sure it's not touching the coil and that there are no loose pieces of metal or bared wires nearby.

The printed circuit carries power whenever the lights are on no matter the brightness, so if they work at all the printed circuit should be fine.