help,rear brake lights not working!

loki the trickster

loki the trickster

New member
okay so like the title states my brake light wont come on! the the red night time driving lights, turn lights and backup lights all work. the fuse is good. one of the coils on one of the brake light bulbs looks broken but that means one light wont work not both lights. i know that they worked before today. i dont know what the problem is or could be. any help is welcome! this truck is my daliy driver and i need it to work!
 
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Check the switch on the break petal. I had the same issue, replaced the little $5 switch and it solved it.
 
Yea, put it on continuity not ohms and put the probes on both wires on the switch. Press the brake pedal and the volt meter should beep.

Beep equals good.
No beep equals replace.
 
GonOvr said:
Yea, put it on continuity not ohms and put the probes on both wires on the switch. Press the brake pedal and the volt meter should beep.

Beep equals good.
No beep equals replace.
Click to expand...

my tester did not come with a instructions. i got it as a gift 2yr ago. i belive the tester came from harbor freight tools cause it is a cheap POS! could i do a continuity test on the batery to get it to beep so i know witch one is continuity?
 
I am having the same exact issues with mine. When i first noticed the problem I checked the fuse, it was blown so I replaced it. That didnt help so i checked the bulbs both of them were not just blown but like the filament was melted together, so I replaced both bulbs, still no lights. Then I replaced the ever so much of a PIMA brake light switch and well nothing. I have one of those expensive fancy useless Power Probe Short Circuit testers so i hooked it up and after walking around the truck for 30 mins listening to it beep it took me to the harness at the right rear tailight. So I checked all the wires, I have power where its needed and i have continuity to groud but no shine on my lights. I even went as far as removing every pin connector and wire from the plastic connector and pluging them in just to see if i had a short in the plastic connector, and just as I thought I dont. So basically what I am asking is has anyone had this issue, and am I missing/forget to do anything, aside from striking a match to it?:flamethrwoer2:
 
loki the trickster said:
my tester did not come with a instructions. i got it as a gift 2yr ago. i belive the tester came from harbor freight tools cause it is a cheap POS! could i do a continuity test on the batery to get it to beep so i know witch one is continuity?
Click to expand...
You can put the meter on continuity and just touch the two leads together, if it beeps then its good, the easiest way would be put one lead on the negative post of the battery then touch a fender bolt, intake manifold, something, if it beeps then your good to go
 
Last edited:
KILLINTIME said:
I am having the same exact issues with mine. When i first noticed the problem I checked the fuse, it was blown so I replaced it. That didnt help so i checked the bulbs both of them were not just blown but like the filament was melted together, so I replaced both bulbs, still no lights. Then I replaced the ever so much of a PIMA brake light switch and well nothing. I have one of those expensive fancy useless Power Probe Short Circuit testers so i hooked it up and after walking around the truck for 30 mins listening to it beep it took me to the harness at the right rear tailight. So I checked all the wires, I have power where its needed and i have continuity to groud but no shine on my lights. I even went as far as removing every pin connector and wire from the plastic connector and pluging them in just to see if i had a short in the plastic connector, and just as I thought I dont. So basically what I am asking is has anyone had this issue, and am I missing/forget to do anything, aside from striking a match to it?:flamethrwoer2:
Click to expand...
As for yours, hook everything up and pull one bulb at a time checking for power in the bulb socket. If you have power, check the bulb socket for continuity to ground. If you have power and ground, install all bulbs and probe the wires for power without disconnecting anything. If you still have power with known good bulbs. Check the ground wire for continuity without disconnecting anything. You may have corroded wires which will let you see no load 12v but as soon as you put a load on it (bulb) it goes away.

KILLINTIME said:
You can put the meter on continuity and just touch the two leads together, if it beeps then its good, the easiest way would be put one lead on the negative post of the battery then touch a fender bolt, intake manifold, something, if it beeps then your good to go
Click to expand...
Yea just touch the probes together until one of the functions constantly beeps.
 
loki the trickster said:
my tester did not come with a instructions. i got it as a gift 2yr ago. i belive the tester came from harbor freight tools cause it is a cheap POS! could i do a continuity test on the batery to get it to beep so i know witch one is continuity?
Click to expand...

If you try to check continuity (resistance (ohms)) when a voltage is present (like the lights are turned On) you can damage the meter, especially a cheap one which won't have much self-protection.
 
fourwd1 said:
If you try to check continuity (resistance (ohms)) when a voltage is present (like the lights are turned On) you can damage the meter, especially a cheap one which won't have much self-protection.
Click to expand...

so...:confused:....what do you think i should do? i need to get this done!i dont want to spend an arm and a leg and maybe a eye on going to a shop to have them test and fix some thing that i can do in the drive way!
 
unplug the brake light switch and check it. It doesn't have to have power going to it to check it.
 
I have tried the pulling only one bulb at the time and checking it that way, nothing seems to change. I agree that corrosion can give false readings, but ive checked what part of the wires that im able to pull out of the rubber boot that runs up into the inside of the quarter panels, didnt see any broken/damaged wires. The short tester thing that i tried after several failed attempts would beep saying short circuit when i would install the buld into the right side light socket as if there were a ground issue in that socket but i took everything apart and checked it, and all was ok. Im a mechanic by trade so I know enough about wiring to be potentially dangerous but this has got me puzzled.
 
so i picked up a stop light sensor and bulb and my tail lights still dont work! my brake fluid is low(below the min line) could this make the tail lights not work? i have began my journy of tracing wires! my dash is all out upper and lower! oh and my volt meter is broke so i cant use that! what am i doing wrong?
 
Low brake fluid will make the warning light in the dash come on. It will not make the brake lights come on.

Well I just looked at the schematic and it is very simple curcuit.

I am not testing your intelligence. Did you check the fuses behind the drivers side kick panel? It looks like this. The brake lights have their own fuse in this fuse panel. I know its supposed to be a 15amp fuse. Not sure exactly what fuse it is though but check them all if you haven't.

The power comes through that fuse straight to the brake switch on the pedal then straight to the lights.

fuse-1.jpg
 
GonOvr said:
Low brake fluid will make the warning light in the dash come on. It will not make the brake lights come on.

Well I just looked at the schematic and it is very simple curcuit.

I am not testing your intelligence. Did you check the fuses behind the drivers side kick panel? It looks like this. The brake lights have their own fuse in this fuse panel. I know its supposed to be a 15amp fuse. Not sure exactly what fuse it is though but check them all if you haven't.

The power comes through that fuse straight to the brake switch on the pedal then straight to the lights.

fuse-1.jpg
Click to expand...

i don know what the yellow circles are but the brake fuse is the purple /black fuse in the picture that you posted! mine is good. i guess my back op lights dont work as well but rear turn signals work and night time tail lights work but backup lights and and brake lights do not. with th beeing said i i know that i have power at the socket for the bulb cause the night time marker both driver and passenger come on when i turn my lights on but my when i let the stop light switch hang loose and their is no light. so i know their is power at the tail light assembly, fuse is good, it looks like my only options are look for a short or the switch that i just bought is bad! unless their is another issue like well i dont know but it is weird that the bulbs for my back up lights and stop lights both dont work! :sobbing: i'll be doing this later today if i cant fix by lunch time! as for now i'll be doing this :ybrick:
 
Ok well you have power going to the back but no lights.
You need to check for power with the bulb in and the pedal pressed. You have to probe the actual wire near the tail light for this.

If you still have power near tail light, you have a bad ground. Simple as that, you may need to make a new ground for that wire.
 
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