Hello,

I have a 1992 Honda Accord (366,627mi) with a “Brake Lamp” that is constantly illuminated. This is the light on the panel with the door and trunk open indicators, not the “Brake” light that works fine when engaging the emergency brake. Just wanted to specify because google searches always bring up discussions about the other warning light. All of my lights work fine: brake, turn, backup, bright, and even the license plate. Nothing I have tried makes this warning light go out and I have a renewal coming up and fear it will not pass inspection.

I am the original owner of this car and had the factory spoiler install at the time of purchase. The spoiler light works fine. At the time I bought the car I was asked if I wanted the 3rd light illuminated and I said no so it has never been active. As a test I reconnected it and it worked but the “Brake Lamp” still remained lit.

Had a new OEM Master Brake Cylinder installed which also include a new oil cap. Read that the plunder can sometimes cause this issue but this made no difference. Also replace both left and right brake sensors.

Was wondering about the brake light switch on top of the pedal but the brakes work perfectly. Another thing I was wondering about is the sockets for the bulbs. They have lost their springiness and don’t hold the bulb as tight anymore. Sometimes when I change a bulb, I have to push it so that it is tighter against the bottom of the bulb for it to work. Once in place the light works fine but could it be just loose enough to trip that warning lamp? Those sockets look like part of a long wiring harness with no easy way to replace it.

I have had both an independent and dealership look at the problem. The dealer told me they thought it was the panel itself which is a part no longer available. I suppose this is possible but the door and trunk light on it both work fine.

Any advice on what to try next will be greatly appreciated.

 

That indicator is related to the brake lights circuits. First check that all five brake light bulbs illuminate when the brake pedal is depressed. 4 out of the 5 bulbs used for the brake lights are dual filament (one filament for brake light and the other filament for the taillights).

If all 5 brake lights illuminated with the brake pedal depressed, the cause is likely due to failure of one or both brake light failure sensor (BLFS). There is a left and right failure sensor. The brake light failure sensors are use to help indicate if a bulb burnt out, and power has to go through it to the brake light bulbs. The sensor components may go bad or solder joints crack with age/use. One side is still in stock new. The other side is discontinued (but, used ones can still be found).

See this other thread to see actual photos of the failure sensors. https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...rcuit-3009319/

 

Thank you for the information and providing that link to the other thread. Unfortunately I have already replaced both sensors and did not solve the problem.

 

This is a description of how the indicator works:

Safety Indicator
With the brakes off, ground is provided for the safety indicator through either of the failure sensor coils and any of the brake light bulbs. When you push the brake pedal, battery voltage is applied to all the failure sensor coils, closing the relay contacts, which keeps the safety indicator circuit WHT/GRN wire grounded. If a brake light bulb fails, at least one of the failure sensor coils will not be energized. The safety indicator circuit WHT/GRN wire will then no longer be grounded by either the diode or the relay contact, and the safety indicator circuit will turn on the brake lamp indicator.

The Wht/Grn wire is a white wire with a green stripe running through it.

If you want to turn off the lamp, the quickest and easier way to do it would be to cut the Wht/Grn wire located at Connector C716 (located at the rear left of the trunk area) and connect that wire to ground. The Wht/Grn wire is at terminal no. 1 of that connector.

 

I really did not want to cut into my factory wiring so ordered two more new sensors and replaced all the bulbs again. Also used contact cleaner when inserting the bulbs this time. That brake lamp still stays lit.

Have no choice but to splice the white and green wire. Does it make any difference where I cut the wire? Can I make the cut closer to the sensor box in the socket harness or will it need to be where you pointed out the wire in your picture? The wiring is looser and easier to splice if I can make the cut in the socket harness.

Thanks

 

On the 4th Gen Accords, that light, and maybe some other dash lights acting strangely, is often the result from one or more capacitors on the printed circuit board inside the instrument cluster failing, resulting in the circuit for that dash indicator being constantly "open," when its only supposed to be that way if a bulb is missing or burned out. In most cases, when looking at the cluster circuit board, the burned capacitors are easy to see. Plus, corrosion where they spilled out can be spotted. If lucky, it didn't eat into the wafer and break continuity. If it did, a jump wire soldered in might be needed.

I never did fix mine, but prior to the pandemic, I had a electronics engineering student who likes working on the old boards ready to replace the caps for a small fee as soon as I could get the board to him. I never got around to it and now don't feel like dismantling the dash.

It is much more work, but there was a poster here years ago who had done the job on a 1993 and shared the following picture. The capacitors he replaced are in the box on the right side of his drawing. Their actual location is shown elsewhere in his drawing. I won't link the thread because
he shared the pic privately and said he was long done with the job and didn't want to discuss it further.

Obviously, the method discussed in the prior post here is better, except for no longer having that dash indicator to warn of a bad bulb. I am still holding out. I generally like all systems in the old Honda to be whole.

 

Thank you for the post but fixing a circuit board is way beyond my abilities..

 

Out of options so finally decided to cut into my factory wiring . Attached is a picture of what it did.



Made no difference. That the Brake Lamp still shines like a bright middle finger strait into center of my sole.....

 

I'm not really familiar with that wire splice/reroute method, but I think some have done it to take that brake light sensor out of the loop.

A lot of people put a thin strip of black tape on the plastic shield to hide that light so they don't see it all the time.

Mine burned for almost 2-years (or much longer) before the bulb burned out. But I still plan to fix the issue. The car is very old now, and I don't drive it much, but I still like working on it. Eventually, no parts will be available for it, so when other stuff goes wrong, there may be no fix.

Good luck with yours.

 

I appreciate all the suggestions given on here but have decided to give up. Pulled the dash out and removed the bulb. Hate doing this instead of solving the problem but out of options.

Now on to the next problem that needs fixing… 😊





​​​​​​​

 

Got to congratulate you for that job in itself, I hope you got it back together ok. That's no easy task IMO.

Where exactly was the bulb, on GR below J47 and D79?

 

I got everything back together and the car passed inspection. Actually, I had done this job maybe 15 years ago and replaced all the bulbs because several were burnt out. I knew it was going to be a pain but forgot you have to pull out more interior pieces then you would think just looking at it. Really, the center console to get to your interment cluster???

The two pictures are a before and after. The brake lamp is that bottom GR connection. The bulbs just snap onto the two prongs. See the picture of the underside of the bulb. On that “after” picture the bulb is laying on the left, right door and trunk open bulbs. I have a coupe so assume those two other GR sockets would be for a 4 door. The row of closely spaced white bulbs are the shifter lights for my automatic.