i got home the other night and noticed my brake lights would not tun off on my 88 crx dx. even though no one is pushing the pedal down they still stay on. i am still able to turn on an off my head lights and tail lights by the switch on the steering column. my thinking is that it is somthing wrong with the brake pedal itself. does somone know what is going on and how to fix it?

 

You are now missing the little plug on the brake pedal arm that makes contact with the brake switch. Look up the brake pedal arm and you'll see it. Put a push pin or body fastener in the hole and you're good.

 

im gonna agree with mullig on that. if it is still there, however, try unpluging it and see what happens. if it doesnt go out, you got a short to power on the load side of the switch. this more than likely wont be the problem. hondas dont get shorts unless someone has been hacking on the wiring.

if the light goes out when you unplug it, make sure the switch is adjusted right. you will know how to adjust it once you look at it. if it is adjusted right then test the switch.

Testing a switch: either you can probe for power on the load side of a switch. get a pin and push it into the back side of the connector. check for power there w/ a test light.. or you can use a resistance test. take switch out and probe both terminals w/ ohmmeter. normaly closed switch will read low resistance (.2 to .4) when you press in the switch it should read open or infinity. normaly open switches read opposite of that. this test works on all 2 wire switched

 

You need a new stopper.
Im sure you will fine some dark bluish peices of plastic on your floor.

Order one from honda.

 

I had this problem recent, and yup I did see the dark bluish pieces broken all over the ground.

Cheap fix, strap a zip tie around the tap that pushes against the button, have the piece that locks the zip tie (the fat part at the end) aligned with the button; so when the brake pedal is depressed the locking part on the zip tie will press the button in and keep the brake lights from turning on. Fixed my problem quick, cheap, and easy!

 

A few months ago I got home and get out of my CRX only to see the brake lights were on just like you. I thought I left the lights on so I checked and sure enought they were turned off...I thought WTH?!

It was already night time and with no garage to work on I didn't want to fumble with it so I just loosened and disconnected the battery to save it until morning.

Next day after researching I found some threads saying it was the brake light switch that was bad and to change that out. I called for the brake light switch (non cruise control) and found 3 prices: Kragens ($29), Napa ($20), and Pep Boys ($18)

I was almost ready to go get it but decided to look at it one more time to check if it was indeed the switch that was bad by manually toggeling the switch.

With the help of a friend I went out and I pushed in the little button plunger on the switch and my friend let me know the brake lights were turned off. So right away I knew the switch was good.

I felt around the brake pedal part itself and felt a hole so I took a picture of it instead of crawling all underneath:


A little more futher investigating around my foot area and I found these broken bits of plastic on my carpet.


So I called the local Honda dealership for this and they told me it was a "Pedal Stopper Pad, P/N 46505-SA5-000" and it cost a whopping $3.28 (sure beats paying $20+):




Here's the old broken one next to the new one:


I took some more pictures of the brake pedal/switch area:
Here you can clearly see the hole for the missing pedal stopper pad:



Missing the brake pedal stopper pad produced a gap to the brake light switch plunger:



So all that was left was to pop it back in which took all of 2 seconds:



Here you can see the the brake light switch plunger being pushed all the way in by the stopper pad...this fixed it right up for me!

 

this should be in the FAQ.

this question comes up atleast once every two weeks.

 

Wow, pricing at $3.28 is not bad at all. If my ziptie ever goes out I'll be going to the dealership.

Nice pics/write up btw!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rbwdriven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this should be in the FAQ.

this question comes up atleast once every two weeks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

it already is.

 

ya you guys were right. the blue stopper thing was broken on my floor and i just put a small bolt with a nut throught the hole as a new stopper. thanks for the help.

 

mind as well get 2 and switch out the clutch pedal one too..