Brake lights won't light up. Help!
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Brake lights won't light up. Help!
I have a '94 Accord Ex. I've replaced the Brake switch twice and also checked my fuse-- it's good. Before I fully install the switch, I click it to test and I hear a faint clicking sound, but no light up. When night lights are on, back lights light up, just don't get brighter when I push the pedal. Any ideas??
Thread Starter
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Re: Brake lights won't light up. Help!
Because I hate when problems get resolved but not posted, I will explain how I've fixed my brake light problem.
After going back and forth between the car and the service manual, I noticed that the tail light harness on the passenger side also had the same small brown box (idk what it is, it's held in by two screws and right next to the harness). From what I saw in the manual, only one side was supposed to have said small brown box. (If someone could tell me wtf that thing is, that'd be great.) This was my first clue that something was funny.
I have a couple extra harnesses so I switched that one out and then plugged negative back in and voila, now the right side lit up when the brake pedal was pushed. Now on to the right side.
Took a look, and since this car's previous owner didn't have it running for a long time, he didn't give me the low down on all the small things wrong with the car. For one, idk what where he got this harness, but it had an input for a headlight bulb (the flat skinny kind, maybe for a newer/different model?), not the two prong brake bulb. Again, wtf. I transplant the passenger side harness over to the driver side but I clean it up first. I find that he had attempted to mickey the wiring with duct tape...
Rip open the duct tape and sure enough, shitty wires. Took it to the bench, started cleaning and soldering wires back together. Reattach harness and plug negative back in-- tada.
Admittedly, this was not that difficult but it was hard to diagnose because all I could ever find was info on brake switches or fuses.
tl;dr: If you bought your car second hand, don't expect any work the previous owner did to be good work. Always seconds guess... Especially when there's duct tape on electrical stuff
After going back and forth between the car and the service manual, I noticed that the tail light harness on the passenger side also had the same small brown box (idk what it is, it's held in by two screws and right next to the harness). From what I saw in the manual, only one side was supposed to have said small brown box. (If someone could tell me wtf that thing is, that'd be great.) This was my first clue that something was funny.
I have a couple extra harnesses so I switched that one out and then plugged negative back in and voila, now the right side lit up when the brake pedal was pushed. Now on to the right side.
Took a look, and since this car's previous owner didn't have it running for a long time, he didn't give me the low down on all the small things wrong with the car. For one, idk what where he got this harness, but it had an input for a headlight bulb (the flat skinny kind, maybe for a newer/different model?), not the two prong brake bulb. Again, wtf. I transplant the passenger side harness over to the driver side but I clean it up first. I find that he had attempted to mickey the wiring with duct tape...
Rip open the duct tape and sure enough, shitty wires. Took it to the bench, started cleaning and soldering wires back together. Reattach harness and plug negative back in-- tada.
Admittedly, this was not that difficult but it was hard to diagnose because all I could ever find was info on brake switches or fuses.
tl;dr: If you bought your car second hand, don't expect any work the previous owner did to be good work. Always seconds guess... Especially when there's duct tape on electrical stuff
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