Car is a 91 CRX Si.

The other day I was sitting at a light when this guy beside me told me my brake lights were out. So I went home and had a buddy check for me and sure enough both weren't working. He got in and pressed the breaks and when you press the break pedal, the lights flicker sometimes, but very slightly, you probably can't tell at night, and then sometimes they flicker brightly and sometimes they don't work at all. Does anybody know the cause of this? Or anything I can check? I don't think the bulbs are out because both aren't working and that's unlikely they would go out at the same exact time. But I can change them since it is a cheap fix if anybody suggests to start there. Thanks in advance.

 

Two things you can check. 1. The brake lights them selfs. You say they still work, but them flickering could mean they are on their last leg of life and need to be replaced soon. 2. The brake light switch. Its right under the brake pedal. After you press the brake down the switch under there makes a connection and makes your brake lights turn on.

I had this problem on my S2000 a while back when my brake lights would only come on sometimes and something inside the switch was just not working right. I went down to the honda dealership picked up the switch for pretty cheap and installed it myself. Everything worked perfect after words.

If either of those two things dont fix your problem you might have a short someplace.

 

Ok thanks, gonna go get those 2 break lights and I found the switch you were talking about and when you press the pedal down it releases. So if I put the bulbs in and that doesn't fix it, then I'll check the switch and follow the wires to see if I can find the problem. Thanks again.

 

swing the bat harder, they'll break...

but if you brake lights all flicker together, it it's the switch or wiring, not a bulb issue.

 

the sub harness that holds the bulbs is probbly bad. mine did the same thing but i would repalce the switch and light bulbs first.

 

check the switch.. You can remove it in 5min with a 14mm open end wrench, just loosen the jam nut, after you pull off the plug on the end..

Pull the plug down, and check for continuty across, when the switch is compressed it should be OPEN (ie No continuity) when it is retracted it should be CLOSED (ie continuity)... As soon as you look under there and identify/remove the switch you will learn very quickly how it works.

Chances are its sticking and staying compressed.. I doubt its in your wiring/bulbs by the description of your problem since it seems to be a identical across the lights.. If it was the bulb holders it would tend to be one side or the other, not both doing the exact same thing.


Is your 3rd brake light doing the same thing?

 

Well, I didn't check my 3rd break light, I just focused on the 2 main ones, but none of them are working. So it may be doing the same thing. I checked the switch and the switch isn't stuck, when you press the breaks, the switch is released and when the breaks come back, the switch retracts. So I guess it has to be the switch itself or the wiring to the breaklights.