Well, little problem here. My buddy noticed the other day that the brake lights on my car don’t work except for the third brake light. The rear lights go off and the third brake light lights up. I used to have a problem that only 1 would light up. Bulbs appear to be fine, but I am going to replace them anyways, just figured that if that isnt the problem, I may as well get an early start on figuring it out.
Any ideas? It isn’t the bulbs…just like I figured. I had a problem with just one brake light lighting up for a while, now neither will, only the third brake light. Another thing. When I don’t have any of my lights on, and I hit the brakes, my other exterior lights…ie turn signals, will dimmly flicker. This is kind of irritating me.
sounds like a short
if it’s a hatchback, start by checking the wiring by the hatch grommet (which is at the top of the hatch on the passenger side)
the wires can stretch and sometimes shear from opening and closing the hatch.
Its a coupe. I will try to track the wiring the best that I can. Does it just run along the floor of the vehicle up to the front?
take the bulb housing out of the light from inside the trunk…
i bet the screws holding the bulb holders down are loose, i had this issue on 3 coupe i owned in the past.
On my coupe, it was the sensor that the brake pedal releases activating the brake lights.
there is also a fuse for them, isn’t there?
I’ve had the running lights fuse burn out before, leaving only brake lights in the rear, that cop was nice enough to let me replace the fuse roadside.
I was wondering about the switch at the brake pedal, but if that was it, Why would the third brake light still go on?
it wouldn’t
try what varun said… if that doesnt do it, try tracing the wiring back from the bulbs.
Get a multimeter and keep checking for voltage along the way (you’ll need to keep the brake pedal depressed…or you can unscrew the switch and that will make it so the brake light circuit gets continuous voltage)
Start by checking for voltage at the connector to the tail lights… IIRC the brake lights are on the red/green wire.
Slipperysilvia, thanks alot man. That is exactly what the problem was. Here I though it was going to be something big, and a pain in the ass…