Try this, remove one brake light bulb and test if the other brake light bulbs work. If, not reinsert the bulb and remove a different bulb and test, repeat for all three bulbs.

Just want to see if one of the bulbs is causing a back-feed.

 

I'm wondering if your replacement sensor from Honda is for the driver's side and not for the passenger side. They do have different part numbers, so something has to be different between them. The new sensor does work on the driver's side as well.

If this was my car, I'd look for a u-pull-it yard or buy a new one. The 90-97 accords use the same sensor and the 90-96 preludes.

 

Hi PA, the one I am using as a replacement now did come from a dealership.

 

Hi redbull, just tried this and no change in the brake light situation.

 

I'm wondering if the dealership gave you the failure sensor for the driver's side instead of the passenger side. They have different part numbers.

 

I decided today I would just start at the beginning and sprayed crc electronic cleaner into the connector running into the failure sensor. It didn't make the RH brake light work, but it did turn the dashboard brake light light off. Is that a vote maybe for some kind of corrosion/connector problem? I'm getting stumped.

On the part number, I'm going to look for that tomorrow and see if I can figure out which they gave me. I'll update. Thanks for yr help.

 

1. The tail lights are on a separate circuit than the brake lights. The left and right bulbs are dual filament; one filament for the tail light and one filament for the brake light.

2. The passenger side failure sensor has 6 terminals, whereas the driver side failure sensor has 5 terminals. Unplug the connector and count how many terminals are there.

 

I've been working on this the last week. Went to the junk yard to try to pull a taillight assembly from another 1990, but they were all gone off the one 1990 they had. So that doesn't seem like an option unless I drive to New Orleans and look there.

I'm attaching photos (front and back ) of the two failure sensors. The black one is the original. The white one is the replacement sold by the dealership. They are both 6 pin. Despite having different number/letter on the front, the boards seem the same. (Also attaching a pic of the failure sensor connector in case someone can see something wrong there).

Feeling more stuck than ever. I'd buy a replacement assembly but can't even find one online. Only a matter of time before I get pulled over (and again and again if i can't fix this). Any suggestions y'all might have...I could use them.

 

Just to close out this thread: the problem seems to be in the 6 pin connector running into the brake light failure sensor. Attempts at cleaning it failed, so I opted for the low tech (and partial) solution of jumping the Green/White terminals with a paper clip. Doesn't completely solve the problem (no high center light) but it does lessen the chances of getting pull over enough that this old car is driveable. When I'm in a bigger city, I'll probably try to pull a tail light assembly to completely fix.

Thanks to Redbull and PAhonda for all their help on this one. Would buy yall a cold one if I could.