stop light fuse box problem.

[nismospek]

any pictures of the area that you are talking about?

[e_racer1999]

i don't have a pic, but it's the little switch that is pressed when the brake pedal is released. look down at the brake pedal and you will see it.

[nismospek]

yah, thats what was hot. I would put the fuse in and when i held down the brake pedal the switch would get hot.

[beandip]

BINGO! Now find the short. Some where back from the switch to the brake lights.

[nismospek]

Should i be looking for an exposed wire, or burnt wire??

[Arne]

Probably exposed.

But I'd start more systematically than just looking for the bad spot. You want to reduce the amount of wire you need to inspect closely. So I'd start by unplugging various parts of the harness one by one to try to localize the problem.

Start with unplugging the connector from the rear body harness to the dash harness. This connector will be on the passenger side behind the glovebox. With that unplugged, try the brakes and see if the fuse and switch still gets hot. If no, the problem is farther back towards the rear. If yes, it's in the wiring under the dash. Report back with your answer and we'll try to advise further.

[nismospek]

Well i disconnected the connector with the green with white strip connector. car wouldn't start. pressed brake pedal fuse still got hot.

If i was to get a new msa type fuse box and the headlight wireing harness would that solve my problem?? I don't have the mechanical capability to take the whole dash apart to find the wire.

[Arne]

Well i disconnected the connector with the green with white strip connector. car wouldn't start. pressed brake pedal fuse still got hot.

If i was to get a new msa type fuse box and the headlight wireing harness would that solve my problem?? I don't have the mechanical capability to take the whole dash apart to find the wire.

First answer, no, a new fusebox and headlight relay won't help at all. The headlights are not involved in this, and a new fusebox won't cure the root issue.

Let's try to continue systematically to find it. Don't panic, we'll try to talk you through this.

Next step - reconnect the connector under the glovebox. Now uplug the connector from the hazard flasher switch and test again.

Report back what happens.

[EScanlon]

i don't have a pic, but it's the little switch that is pressed when the brake pedal is released. look down at the brake pedal and you will see it.

yah, thats what was hot. I would put the fuse in and when i held down the brake pedal the switch would get hot.

Before you end up disconnecting everything, remove and test the Brake Switch, which is what you reference in the bold text above.

Then check the RESISTANCE at that switch when you have it un-pressed. This is done with a multimeter and set to the Resistance setting (Ω).

The switch is a Normally Closed which is held Open (pressed on) until the brake pedal is pushed on (which releases the pressure on the switch). Then the switch is Closed and current can flow. In the Closed position it should have (ideally) NO resistance whatsoever.

If it does register resistance, then the only fix for this is to replace the switch.

Since you just got it inspected, I would presume that your brake lights DO work. A break in the wire that is shorting out would cause one or both of the tail lights to either NOT work or burn dimly. Either one of these would cause you to fail the inspection for brake lights.

Before you disassemble the car trying to find the break in the wire, remove the access panels to the tail-lights and remove and check all the bulbs back there. Corrosion at the base of the bulb will also cause problems of this nature.

The base of the bulbs should be corrosion free without any signs of rust or any white powdery substance. If necessary, disconnect the tail-light from the harness then using a wire brush (like the one used to clean battery post terminals) and clean the sockets out. If the bulbs are badly corroded, be careful that the bulb globe isn't about to fall out of the brass base, remove it and just replace them.

Disconnecting the tail light wiring is necessary because the brake light circuit is an ALWAYS ON circuit.

If you insert your wire brush inside the socket you'll ground the brake light circuit through the rest of the harness including the tail light circuit.

You mention:

Well i disconnected the connector with the green with white strip connector. car wouldn't start. pressed brake pedal fuse still got hot.

You may have disconnected the Resistor Coil and/or Tach from the circuit and that would be why your car wouldn't run. But that doesn't say you disconnected the REAR wire harness.

What Arne was trying to get you to do was to isolate the problem to the BACK or the FRONT of the car.

2¢

E

[nismospek]

How do i know which is the rear brake light circuit? any pictures of description of the color wires.

When i lay off the brakes the fuse cools down. I accidentally touched some metal with one of the wires that goes to the brake switch and it sparked. Not sure if that is normal.

i removed the bulbs in the rear and I didn't see any corrosion.

[Arne]

Sorry, no pictures.

But the power should go from the fusebox on a green/yellow wire. Its first stop is the hazard switch, then into the brake light switch (still green/yellow).

From there it goes to the turn signal switch (still green/yellow).

At the turn signal switch the circuit splits - the right side is white/red and the left is white/black. Those two wires go to the right side of the dash where they connect to a bundle going to the rear of the car.

[nismospek]

so on the passenger side harness i should be looking for white/red and white/black wires?

Is it normal for one of the brake switch wires to spark when it touched metal?