Rear tail light stays on after truck shutoff, tap brakes fixes it - fix ideas?

[BrianSD_42]

Hi,

Like the title says, I am having an issue where the tail lights stay lit up after the truck is off.

If unlock the car, open the door and tap the brake peda then the tail lights turn off. Sometimes I have to try more than once.

I'm thinking a relay is failing.

Any thoughts? My 1 minute search didn't find any simple answers.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Though I have never had one fail on a 4runner, this usually cures the tail lights staying on:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/53097-where-brake-light-switch.html

Take a look closely though at the board as well for moisture build up and around the connectors a la rust.....

 

[CAMELPRO]

Though I have never had one fail on a 4runner, this usually cures the tail lights staying on:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/53097-where-brake-light-switch.html

Take a look closely though at the board as well for moisture build up and around the connectors a la rust.....

Yep. Buddy of mine just had to do this on his old Toyota pickup. More common with those than the 4Runner.

 

[GHARP57]

BRake light switch mounted on the pedal

 

[Trailblazer]

Agreed. I had to replace that in my '89 pick up recently.

 

[ShannanC]

On some other vehicles there is a rubber spacer on the top backside of the brake pedal that makes contact with the switch and turns the lights off. Check for the spacer. Just a thought.
I'm not sure if that is the case with our 4runners though.

 

[St Runner]

There is a plastic button that fits in a hole where the brake light switch is. When that plastic breaks the switch goes into the hole and will not allow contact. I had to buy some from the dealer and replace the ones at the top of the clutch for the cruise control too (not that I ever use it)

 

[jeremyc74]

Next time it does it, instead of tapping the pedal try pulling it toward you with your toe. It could be the switch, or it could be that the pedal isn't coming all the way back to where it's supposed to be.

 

[Troybylt]

Also check the switch pad, it's a dime sized rubber spot that clicks into a hole in the pedal arm tab. The hole the pad mounts to is just slightly larger than the brake light switch button, sometimes the button can slide through the hole and hang up.

The rubber pads get hard and dried out then crumble. This is what happned when my cruise control stopped working. A .25 cent pad later I was back in business. There's a couple of switches on the pedals, more if you have a 5spd like myself.

 

[BrianSD_42]

A lot of great advice here. Thanks guys.