seanod Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Girlfriend has a 98 legacy l. when you turn on the lights it looks like your stepping on the brakes they are always bright. They do get brighter when you step on brakes but you can tell they are not right. Any ideas on what may be causing this? Thanks for your help Sean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aczwild Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Can you take a few pics for us, one of the brake lights on (headlight switch on) and then one of you on the brakes? I know the lights are kinda on the bright side to begin with, but when you are on the brakes at night, the slightest difference in brightness is alot. I'm sure its probably messed up like you say, since you can see them and I cant, but a few pics would help. JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanod Posted October 4, 2005 Author Share Posted October 4, 2005 Not sure but i will try to get pics. They are def. brighter than they are supposed to be it looks like your always riding the brakes. Shes had the car for 4 years and this has just recently become a problem a month or two. Its so bad she got pulled over tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aczwild Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Alright then something is definitely wrong if they are bright enough to get pulled over for it. In the trunk of the car are two covers over the rear tail lights, push the little plastic lock thingys down to open the covers. There should be two bulbs in there, one stacked above the other, take out the top one (its the brake light) and check to see the wear on the bulb (look for any discoloration of the bulb or a break in the coil). It might just be a good idea to replace both bulbs anyway since its a 98 and they arent expensive, so why not (its a nice gesture from you to replace them for her and you will prolly get rewarded ). While you are in there too check the wires leading to the bulb housing for any loose ones. I hope you dont find it insulting that I went step by step, but I just wanted to cover everything for you right now that would be a quick fix, because if none of these things I talked about above, the walkthrough will get a bit tougher since we will have to go into wiring. Good luck with everything and tell your GF she has a sweet car! JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanod Posted October 4, 2005 Author Share Posted October 4, 2005 the bulbs have been changed along with the fuse. i feel like its a switch that might be bad because it looks like the brake lights are always on they just get even brighter when she goes to use the brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aczwild Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Alright, unfortunately I'm on break from school right now, but I will be back to school tomorrow night where I have all the wiring diagrams for the car. Just a quick question, are they the right bulbs? JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanod Posted October 4, 2005 Author Share Posted October 4, 2005 yes the problem was happening before the bulbs and fuse blew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aczwild Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Alright sorry to ask that question, but I had a dumb friend put the wrong lights in before and it goofed everything up. Hmm there is definitely something wrong with a short in the line somewhere since it popped a fuse. Alright as soon as I get back to school I'll dig out the Diagrams for you and look them over to figure out where a possible short is. In my '97 GT I had a bad bulb in the glove box that caused the fuse to blow completely wiping out my interior guage lights, so there is probably something inline with the rear tails that is messing it up. JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanod Posted October 4, 2005 Author Share Posted October 4, 2005 Thanks for your help. The power window switch is bad stupid question but could that be related? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aczwild Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 That is a possibility, seriously it was a joke to have someone open my glove box on the ride home, to have your guage cluster go out (little scary at 12:00 am when you don't know how fast you are going). Wiring in cars is just awkward, so the first thing I will do is locate the power winder switch on the diagram and see if it ties into the tail lights, man that would be gay to have the winder switch causing the problem JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanod Posted October 4, 2005 Author Share Posted October 4, 2005 That would be great if thats the problem I just bought a new power window switch on ebay tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aczwild Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Nice, well good luck with the switch and I will update you tomorrow night on the wiring and hopefully a solution will be found JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low_suby_wagon Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Just a quick sugestion, did you check the brake switch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aczwild Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Hey sorry it took so long to get back to you, I had some issues to deal with here at school, but I didnt forget you. Here is the good news, according to my wiring diagrams the power window switch does not tie into the tail lights in any way, so that is eliminated. Now for the tricky part, the tail lights have three possible fuses that might be bad. The fuses are #12 (20A) and #5(10A) in the fuse/relay box down by your pedals, the third is under the hood in the Main fuse box and it is #23 (20A). If none of those are bad, or look to be deteriorating, the problem probably lies in one of two places. The two places are the Stop/brake switch, or the Tail/illumination relay (my bet is this one for obvious reasons). If you find that none of the fuses are blown, let me know here, or through a PM and I'll go out to my car and locate the relay behind the dash and get an idea of how to troubleshoot that. The quickest option obviously is to print out what I have just said here and take it to a mechanic and tell him (or her, you never know ) that you checked the fuses that I listed and that you believe the Tail/Illumination relay is shot. Best of luck and sorry once again for how long it took me to get back to you JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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