Brake Light Fuse Blowing - Defender 2000 Td5

OK, I know there are plenty of old posts about this one, but none seem to quite fit the bill, and if I haven't tried what is suggested already, I've done other bits. So, the problem is this. Brake light fuse blows. New fuse fitted, all lights on, hazards work, indicators, side / main / flash etc. Brake lights work fine. Leave running 15 mins and still all ok. Then take it for a drive - 2 minutes down road and fuse blows. Just the brake lights don't work. It doesn't appear to affect any other system.
Its is position 6 (10A) in the fuse box below dash / in front of gear stick. On the listing for my vehicle it shows 'Brake pedal switch, reverse lamp switch, speed transducer, alternator/generator'.

So to date, i've tried:
Replaced brake light switch
Replace fuse
Replace bulb holders / full light assembly (all round) Dodgy looking curly twin contacts even in new fittings!
Replace bulbs
Due to other issues also,
Replaced flasher relay
Replaced Hazard switch
Done the by-pass on the dim-dip relay (resolved flashing dim dipped sidelights!)
Found the Dim-Dip resistor had a fitted earth lead, positive to o/s headlamp and another loose wire floating around the engine bay. Now removed dim dip resistor.
Checked all earth points, cleaned / re fitted. HOWEVER, the rear earth for the lights goes back into the loom and by all accounts goes to the o/s of the transfer box - checked cleaned re-fitted.
New fog lamp and reverse lamp assemblies fitted so connections and wires new through body to the loom connector.
Trailer plug checked, cleaned all appears good condition. Not checked the plug to main loom which i presume is behind the plastic mud flap behind / below rear light clusters??

Pointers please.
Main light switch?
I know it's got to be a short to earth as a bad earth wouldn't cause this, and reading all the blogs its indicated as being between the brake light switch and the lamp - or is it?

Could it be Britpart bulb holders?

A good trick I have used a few times now is get two crimp spade connectors and make the blades narrower so they fit into the fuse holder, then run two wires from the spade connectors to a bulb, then when the fues blows ie direct to earth the bulb will light up, when this happens do not swicth the car off, just start unplugging things until the bulb goes out, and that is your problem area.

G12dge said:

Could it be Britpart bulb holders?

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I went through several bulb holders britpart/Allparts/ bear Mach and found then all crap with shorting
Of contacts inside or no contact at all,
I paid for Genuine Land Rover ones and haven’t had any more problems since,
Definitely worth checking,

Europa486 said:

I went through several bulb holders britpart/Allparts/ bear Mach and found then all crap with shorting
Of contacts inside or no contact at all,
I paid for Genuine Land Rover ones and haven’t had any more problems since,
Definitely worth checking,

Click to expand...

Thanks for that. The LR has gone into the garage for some 'warranty' repairs and are going to look at this for me, but certainly, initial indications are the none genuine bulb holders. I will update on its return.

lynall said:

A good trick I have used a few times now is get two crimp spade connectors and make the blades narrower so they fit into the fuse holder, then run two wires from the spade connectors to a bulb, then when the fues blows ie direct to earth the bulb will light up, when this happens do not swicth the car off, just start unplugging things until the bulb goes out, and that is your problem area.

Click to expand...

Have you got an image of this please? I'd like to have this 'tool' at my disposal, but can't quite see how it should look. I'm normally quick at uptake but its beat me.

G12dge said:

Have you got an image of this please? I'd like to have this 'tool' at my disposal, but can't quite see how it should look. I'm normally quick at uptake but its beat me.

Click to expand...

Sorry no image I keep mine at work, you remove the fuse on the circuit you need to check, one cut down spade terminal goes into one of the fuse blade holder recepticals, then from the temrinal a wire leads to a bulb, from the other side of the bulb goes another wire down to the other fuse holder receptical.
The bulb is a headlamp bulb, so all the loads on that circuit work as normal without lighting up the bulb, but when the cricuit goes to earth (ie shorts out) then the light bulb has a passage to earth and lights up nice and bright.