Ok, we have a problem.

i just went out to test my new driving light install at night and i noticed i HAVE NO BRAKE LIGHTS!!!! Running lights work fine turn signals work fine. the 3rd brake light and brake lights in the housing will not light up!

i check what appears to be the brake light fuse (F6, 5A) and it looks fine. i'm going to go replace it now just to be sure of it.

am i missing a fuse somewhere??? is there a relay for the brake lights on the car? i also am going to look if there is a visible brake light actuator switch on the pedal.....


HELP!!!

 

ok, replaced it.

it now flickers the brake lights when i turn the key to run for a few seconds, but not the 3rd brake light, just the lower brake lights....


i dont get it...

 

Have you tried disconnecting the driving lights to see if the install is affecting your brake lights?

Steve

 

good idea, time to test it out


stupid crap, its LUCAS coming back to haunt me

 

if one of my tail light bulbs were bad, would it break the circuit for the brake lights? i tried unplugging both tail lights to see if the 3rd woudl work, no luck. if theres a circuit that needs to stay in line, and one of my LED brake light bulbs is messed up, there could be a problem there, but i'm hard pressed to believe that one failed tail light bulb would cause you to lose the other 2 lights.

 

also, no change by unplugging the driving lights

 

replaced LED bulbs with original clear bulbs, no change, still no lights.

am i missing something here???

 

Are all the brake lights LEDs?

 

i have aftermarket LED brake lights in the lower tails because the tails are Clear aero tail's. i believe the upper ones are LED too, but they are factory LED's

 

Factory LEDs? I don't think there are any, are there? The bulb for the tail lights/brake lights, how do they do that with LEDs? Two LEDs in one socket?

 

the 3rd brake light is LED i think

 

I don't know what to say, but my next thought would be to replace the LEDs with bulbs to see if something happened to the LEDs. Was F6 actually blown? Did you check it with a meter? F33 is the ABS/ASC/DSC fuse; you might check that for laughs. Not likely the problem, but it does have something to do with the brakes. Should show up on the warning display if broken, though. Grasping at straws, now.

Steve

 

replaced the LED's with regular bulbs, no change, checked the LED bulbs, working fine.

i need to see if i am getting any power to F6 still.

i'm not too sure what happened here, but i think i need to check all of the fuses now, ive seen some pretty strange combos on one fuse before

 

what about disconnectiong the battery for 1/2 hour to see if the computer will reset, pehaps a problem there....

 

I was going to suggest that, but forgot. Everything is controlled by the computer in some way.

 

its worth a try.


i took it thru the quarter wash tonight too, i think some water may have gotten in somewhere. but it sohould have dried out by now.....

 

ok to recap....

brake lights will not run on.

parking lights do work.
tried a different set of bulbs, parking lighs still work, no brake lights.

F6 Fuse not blown (I believe thats brake lights)

3rd brake light will not turn on. dissconect both tail lights, 3rd brake light still doesnt turn on.






anyone, please, any ideas here? it has to be something simple.

 

greatbear responded to a post regarding brake lights that came on by themselves with the key off. He said the three brake lights are controlled separately through the body control module (BC1) located just in front of the pass. door behind the kick panel. If it gets wet it may go into Lucas mode.

I would suggest swapping center (yes) LED brakelight with a buddy's unit. If that doesn't work either, disconnect battery ,remove BC1 place on ground & smash it with the largest hammer you can find .............or try swapping with said bud's To be on the safe side, if going this route, disconnect your recently installed driving lights.

 

Could it be the switch on the pedal? I realize that this has nothing to do this the other work you were doing. Maybe it is an unrelated problem that you just noticed tonight.

 

Maybe it is just some water that has gotten into something. If so, it may very well dry out between now and tomorrow morning. ..

Until then, just don't stop and no-one will know your brake lights are not working!

Seriously though, I've had the entire ECU of my Land Rover submerged and waterlogged while deep in the backcountry of Utah. With nothing else to do, I took the ECU out, cracked its case open and let the circuit board dry out in the hot desert sun. A couple hours later I reinstalled and it fired right up!

Chances are that whatever may have gotten too wet really will be dry by morning. . . Put things back together, say a little prayer to the Lucas gods and go to bed. . . .

If you have a space heater and a garage, open all the doors and put the space heater on high in the garage to encourage extra drying. . .

 

ok, i'm gonna go reconnect the battery and wait and see if the lucas gods will heal this.

if not, theres a big hammer wating for the BC1 on my workbench.

 

also, just to point out...

car is off. put key in ignition. my LED brake light bulbs (aftermarket) in the 2 main housings flash in a pattern thats the same everytime i turn it to run. i'm not too sure it has anything to do with the BC1 or anything else......

 

ok, tried it this morning, no luck, still doing the same thing. I'm getting irritated now, this shouldnt be happening. I'm going to check more fuses.

 

Do you have a 12v poer tester? If so with the plug to the light disconnected have someone step on brake and see if you have power to the #4 pin. This the power for the brake lights. If you have power at this point them it is the light assemblies, if you do not have power it is the car.

 

got out the voltmeter and i have 12 volts at the fuse box. nothing at the tail lights.