Electrical Gremlins (Brake Lights)

[Stang70Fastback]

Timeline of events:

 

- Get out of car to get mail. Get back in and notice ABS light is on.

- Parked car, turned off an on again and ABS light was off. Figured it was a fluke. Then realized depressing brake pedal turns on all interior/dash lights (even the glove box light...) as well as the front side markers. However, they are all lit dimly.

- Press the brake a few time trying this out and the ABS light comes back on.

- Locking the car with the remote, it chirps and locks fine, but the lights ALL around the car flash so dimly that half the time you can't really tell they flashed at all.

 

Things I've done in the last 15 minutes:

 

- Checked all the taillight bulbs (they all SEEM to work fine.) I haven't replaced any of them recently. I have LED towers in the reverse lights, but I don't see why those would be related. I'll probably go to Autozone tomorrow and buy new bulbs for EVERYTHING in the back, since most of the existing ones are old and blackened.

- Checked the two ABS fuses in the fuse box in the car - they were fine.

 

So I realize I obviously have some sort of electrical issue here. I'm doubting it's a physical bulb since they all seem to work, so assuming that's not the case - since I'll thoroughly check them all tomorrow - what else should I be looking at? I saw mention of the ground location for the taillights, but I'm not sure offhand where that would be. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have yet to determine what functions of the vehicle are currently impaired (brake lights, turn signals, etc...) but I really want to get this fixed simply because I don't want all the lights coming on and off constantly in the car every time I touch the brakes.

 

I've seen these problems listed on other sites, but nobody ever made mention of an ABS light, so I wonder if that can help narrow things down - perhaps something wrong with the ABS module or a sensor or something? I have no idea at this point and any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to avoid taking my car to the shop since I literally have like $50 in my bank account right now (broke college student.)

[dudeondacouch]

Good luck. I had a car get gremlins once after yanking the e-brake while my friend was driving in the snow and I was drunk riding shotgun.

 

The speedometer became a tach. Permanently. (Among a host of other problems that made no sense.)

[johnegg]

it is usually the double element brake light / tail light bulbs in the rear. one element brakes and falls over on to the other element. when you pres on the brake and the brake light comes on it back feeds the dash lighting.

 

remove the bulbs in the rear one at a time until the problem goes away. then replace that bulb.

[30legacyl]

I agree to try that as well first.

Then, try running a new ground for the trunk wiring harness (I had a bad ground on trunk lid causing no light/ intermittent light issue)

 

If still no luck, check to be sure no part of brake assembly under the dash is shorting out through rubbing on the wiring .....

 

Hopefully YOU can find & fix this so you get to keep the cash in your pocket!

[broknindarkagain]

johnegg is right on the money with this.

 

As well, have you replaced any bulbs recently? One wrong bulb in the system can cause all kinds of weird grounding problems with the lights.

[Lookatmyrust]

if you need a new ecu im parting out. haha.

[Stang70Fastback]

Don't mean to bump an old thread, especially since the issue is now resolved, but I hate when people don't come back and explain what was wrong.

 

In my case, it was a bit odd. All the dual-filament bulbs on the car were fine, though I ended up replacing ALL the bulbs in the rear of the car because they were all pretty old. However, I discovered something new. I had no idea that this vehicle had separate rear side marker lights. I thought that little oval shape in the tail-light was just a reflector (it is, but it's also illuminated with a TEENY TINY No. 162 bulb.) Turns out both of those bulbs had been burned out on this car for MANY years, and as a result, I simply had no idea they were supposed to light up. I also never failed inspection for it either.

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5263/5627938791_6b2de74d63_m.jpg

 

I can't remember seeing this section of the tail-light lit up on other Subies either, so I wonder if it isn't a common thing that people forget/don't know about, since the socket is hard to spot when you look inside. Not only did replacing those bulbs illuminate a whole new section of my tail-lights, lol, but they solved a few other issues as well. The grounding issue I was having here seems to have been resolved, though since they are only on one circuit, I really don't understand how that worked. They also solved an issue I've had for years, which was all the interior lights and headlights dimming slightly when the brakes were applied. I always assumed it was due to old-wiring, especially after I replaced the battery, but that seems to have been resolved now - which might also solve my frequently-burning-out-headlights problem too, hopefully. It's like Christmas!