lostforawhile
08-19-2005, 05:32 PM
this is to clear up some misconceptions on the brake lights on our cars. recently someone on here spent a lot of money trying to fix stuck brake lights that could have been fixed for almost nothing. first the most common problem on these cars that can cause stuck brake lights is nothing more then a little piece of plastic that is in a hole on the brake lever arm. these fall out frequently and when they do,you can pull your hair out trying to find the problem. here is a picture,i have replaced the little plastic button with a round head stove bolt,a short one,with a nut on the back. this will solve the problem of the little plastic button falling out. this pushes on the brake light switch causing the lights to go out when the brake is released. http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/10/web/2050000-2050999/2050019_166_full.jpg also the sensor in the brake light assembly, all this sensor does is sense current going to each brake light bulb,it's a logic circuit,if it detects current from the brake light circuit and no current going to a bulb,it triggers a warning light in your information center in the dash. it has nothing to do with turning on your brake lights. the brake warning light in the instrument cluster,not the information center, this circuit is completly seperate from the brake light circuit. it consists of a fluid level sensor in the master cyl,and a switch in the ebrake assembly. if the ebrake handle is up,or the fluid level drops, the brake warning light is sent a ground and lights up. if your brake lights are stuck on and the little plastic button is pressing on the switch,the best way to check the switch is to unplug the connector if they go out then the switch is bad. try manually pushing on the switch plunger first to make sure it's not just out of adjustment. for a note there are two types of brake light switches, one of them just has an extra circuit for the cruise control. if you have to replace one make sure to get the right switch. on another note,i'm not sure if the circuit is the same on all models,but mine is on the horn circuit fuse.