break lights stay on when car is off

[ihmeg]

I just bought a 89 hatch runs great ( more than i had expected for what i paid ) however the break lights stay on no matter what, even when the key is out of the ignition. I looked for any grounds what may not have been right, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. A friend told me that it could be a bad sensor telling my break lights to stay on, but i have no idea. Any opinions on this would be greatly appriciated :)

[knightrider]

that could be it, if you get under the dash, look around the brake pedal, and you should see a sensor that gets activated by the brake pedal, i dunno how hard they are to change, or if they are expensive, but you could try just unplugging it, if that turns off the brake lights, then thats your prob, those sensors are common to go out on bmw's, ussually the brake lights dont work, rather than stay on, but thats a bmw.

[ultraprince]

that could be it, if you get under the dash, look around the brake pedal, and you should see a sensor that gets activated by the brake pedal, i dunno how hard they are to change, or if they are expensive, but you could try just unplugging it, if that turns off the brake lights, then thats your prob, those sensors are common to go out on bmw's, ussually the brake lights dont work, rather than stay on, but thats a bmw.


yes I would check the brake switch under the pedal. also, it might be warning to check for something wrong, like a fail safe switch. i wouldn't want to just be driving with my brake lights out.

[ihmeg]

I'll try looking around under the dash, the car isnt going to be driven until it's swapped i am just fixing up the car for fun. thanks for the help though i will let ya know how it goes :)

[ihmeg]

Ok i unplugged one of the connectors i saw dealing with the break sensor, and low and behold the light goes off. But i am still not sure if the problem is dealing with the sensor or the wiring, or maybe i just have no break fluid in the car, haha. i'll keep looking :-D

[96_S14_SE]

Theres a grommet that goes on the brake pedal to push the brake lamp switch in.

99% chance yours has fallen out / cracked, or what have you.

Look where the switch contacts the pedal and in that place on the pedal you will more then likely find just a hole. Get a new grommet or use duct tape or anything to depress the switch when the brake paedal is not used.

[jetbill]

long time go, philips mistkingly place single filliment bulbs in a dual filliment package, like you would normaly buy at an auto parts store. low and behold causing some major consumer upsets, and dealers making a ton of money for replacing a bulb to the correct one. sounds stupid but it happend to me first hand.
in some cars single filliment bulbs in dual filliment sockets could cause the brake lights to stay on.

[orion::S14]

I can guarantee that it's the grommet mentioned above - I have owned 2 S13s with this problem.

Get a plastic plug from an autoparts store - Maybe 3/8" in diameter. Pop in into the hole int he brake pedal assemsbly, and voila!

I actually did this to my new S13 this morning...sucks to come out of Target and have a dead battery, only to find that once it's jumped, the brake lights won't go off.

- Brian

[96_S14_SE]

Yeah I had to figure it out on my ex-gf's 92' a year or two back...

It was the first time I had seen or heard of such a thing. I noticed the hole then noticed the grommet in pieces on the floor.

Its very common. In like your case it also sucks as its not like you check your brake lights everytime you get out :)

[ihmeg]

alright, after getting off work and reading the recent posts about the grommet being missing you guys were absolutly 100% right, I am a big guy (6'3) and hanging upside down in the seat was a tight squeeze under my dash to try and figure out what you guys were talking about but just as i was about to give up because i couldnt get both arms above my head i tried a new angle of attack and managed to fit down just enough for me to see the hole that was there... so i just took a small piece of cardboard, put some duct tape around it and presto the breaks go off. though i know this is just a temporary fix it works for me! thanks for all the help and suggestions :-)