Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Hey everyone,

I am new to this forum and hope someone can point me in the right direction. I just noticed tonight that when i turn my car off the rear red lights stay on along with the brake light, the one that is inside the car behind the rear seats.

I tried pulling the fuses that had anything to do with lights, I also removed what I thought was the main connector for the fuse panel inside the driver door. Also started and stopped the car a few times.

Thanks in advance!

doug

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

The brake switch may have problem or you may only need to adjust and lock the adjustment screw for the brake switch.

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Cool Thanks.

I checked the manual but no mention of the brake switch. Could you give a me a general idea of where to look?

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Here it is. You do not need to adjust the pedal hight if you did not work on the brake system. Just check the switch and the switch adjustment screw. If the switch stuck on connection position, the brake light will be on even the car is off.

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

OK I found the nut and the brake switch. I loostened the nut and tried moving the brake switch up and down the shaft it sits on with no luck.
How can i tell if the switch is stuck on the connection position?

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

There is a pointy tab that comes into contact with the lever on the brake pedal, if you do not see it within close proximity (its supposed to be depressed in order to turn off the brake lights) it more than likely broke off. I've seen it happen in many Hondas.

Look at the switch itself, and attach something like a eraser tip or something to it and it'll work again, so long as the item is large enough to depress the button when your brake pedal is at its 'resting' position.

I did this to my boy's EG6, and its been 2yrs since, with no further brake light problem. Just a little 10minute/eraser tip fix lol.

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Bronx,

I think you nailed it. While I was playing around last night i noticed a blue plastic pointy thing laying on the floor mat that looked like the tip of a crayon, not knowing what it was I just tossed it on the ground. ugghh. I will try to find something at home tonight to take it's place. I know I have a few #2 pencils laying around :)

THanks man!

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

that's exactly the thing bro, you've got it.

I think you'll have this situation fixed by tonight, so here's a beer on me :beer:

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Here's a beer on me my friend!

I actually found the broken piece and am currently working on Gorilla Glueing it back on. Lucky I found it in my driveway. The part that requires compressions to turn the lights off was quite hard to push in so I'm not sure if an eraser could have done the job. Seems like it needs to be a hard plastic. But looks like I am on the right track.

Thanks!

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

The fix portion was badly described in my last post, I vaguely remember how we fixed it but I was able to point you in the right direction. :hugs:

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Definitely! Got it fixed last night, tested this morning and all is well!!

THanks again

Doug

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Dude, when this happened to me at Walmart I wentinside and purchased regular quarter inch long bolts with nuts. I used this to replace the plastic piece because it is a one time fix, good luck!:thud:

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Good idea with the nuts and bolts. This is the first time I've ever needed to do this kinda thing and I'm not the handiest guy around. At least in my Accord there was sooo little room to even get the old plastic piece back in. Should it break off again I will go with what you did.

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

:)

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

i believe i have the same problem..i think

my little piece is an off white color. its semi-hard plastic piece with a cylinder base at one end and a pointy tip at the other end. i'm assuming this is the same thing as the blue piece g8rdude was referring to. if so how do i apply the bolt/nut fix to it? anyone have picks for a DIY or anything?

edit
i found this DIY. it states its only a temporary fix tho. but a 10mm bolt could also do the trick
http://www.jdmuniverse.com/forums/ho...hts-stuck.html

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Sorry tml424 I have been out of town for a bit. If you look at the brake pedal closely you will see a small hole on above the pedal. I used a 1/4 bolt and feed it through the front of the hole in the pedal so that the long part of the bolt is behind the pedal. I then added two 1/4 nuts (one two hold the bolt in place and one to lock it in place) and did a quick test to see if it worked and BAM! If this is not clear pm me and I will send pics! Good luck!

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

This happened to me a about a year ago as well. I used bubble gum and a penny as my backing for the pedal and its been holding up just fine.

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Yep, this happened on my 1993 Honda Del Sol. It was pretty funny. I noticed the brake lights on, was about to go pull fuses and stuff when I decided to google it first. This thread was the first thing that hit.

I read about a crayon lookin thing on the floorboard. Went out to my car, and sure fire, there lay this crayon tip looking thing!

Fixed it with a nut / bolt combo... couple of washers too..

Thanks so MUCH!!! This forum has saved me so much money at the mechanic already!!!!

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You saved me a drained battery. My husband drives a 1993 del Sol (that used to be mine) and he came home with a bad headache and brake lights that wouldn't turn off. I hit google to see what I could do on my own and with a flash light, an eraser, and about a dozen mosquitoes circling around me, I turned those lights off!!! We can't afford repairs right now so I am very thankful I found this forum discussion tonight!

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

i found the blue crayon thing and the broken round piece but where does the pointin thing go i know the round piece goes to the right side??

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

and how would you use just nuts and bolts im bad with cars so can someone please give a step by step part with that please thanks very much if u can

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Go to the dealer and spend 2~3 bucks and replace it. Once you have the new one from the dealer, put your head on the floor, push the brake pedal with one hand, use the other hand to push the new "button" in place.....three minutes tops. The nut and bolt will take longer and could cause issues (wrong adjustment to the switch, ect....)

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

<: bump :> for the quick fix with 1/4 inch bolt.

At least my new battery won't be dead by the time I replace this little piece!

Hondatech forums saves my ass yet one more time!! Cheers to all!! :)

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

Bronx
Thank you!!! I was about to start checking for a connection to ground somewhere in the wiring, but you saved me!

gustavo25,
The 1/4" bolt worked for me, too. Just get a 1/4-20 bolt that is somewhere between 1/2" to 1" long, and a matching nut. Push the brake pedal far enough down so that you can insert the bolt into the hole from the front side so the bolt is sticking out and pointing toward the engine. Then just screw on the nut and you're done!

Re: Rear light and brake lights stay on when car is off
 

This happened to mine last night. Found the broken blue pointy thing but it was late and i didn't feel like rigging anything so pulled the batt cable. Went to dealer today and got the new "Pedal Pad" and installed it. The trick to installing that easily is to hold the brake pedal down a little and use the flat part of the new pad to press the button it's designed to press, then push the whole thing into place. The pointy part automatically finds the hole it's supposed to rest in; let go of brake and it pushes fully securely in place. I think if you push down on the brake pedal hard enough you could put the pointy end in first but it's very easy the way I did it. The parts guy told me that he's sold several of those to customers over the years who come back in a few minutes later needing another one because they dropped the first one down into the firewall while trying to install it.