I stopped for gas and noticed that my tail lights were on or so I thought. Hmmmm . . . . did I leave the lights on? Nooooo . . .. wait a sec, the third brake light is on.

For some reason, my brake lights decided to stay illuminated today, even after the engine is off and the keys are in my pocket.

I'm thinking that it is the brake light switch but wanted to make sure that is the only possibility before I crawled under the dash to look.

Thanks.

BTW, I pulled the brake light fuse to keep the battery from draining.

 

Check to see if the pedal stopper pad is still there.

Brake lights stay on...how I fixed them - Honda-Tech

 

I just wedged my fat bulk under the dash with a mirror and a flashlight and found that is what the problem. The stopper pad is missing from the clutch pedal as well.

I will say that they do not make anything easy to get to in a Honda.

I don't think that I've ever seen anything like this on a brake pedal before. Is is common?

Thanks for the assist

 

Yeah, it's sorta common. The little rubber stopper-pad comes loose & gets lost. It's pretty inexpensive at a dealer, or you can ghetto-rig something to make it work.

 

Well, the car went for 18 years and 210,000 miles before it broke so I guess it lasted. You're right, the part isn't expensive at all. About two bucks.

The problem is getting in there to get it back in. I went to the dealership and bought a couple since I noticed that the one on the clutch pedal was missing as well. I then tried to get under there to put it in and found it to be impossible. I just can't get my arms to bend the right way.

Is there a trick?

I'm now thinking about the jb weld and a penny trick mentioned in the thread referenced above.

On a related subject, what does the switch on the clutch pedal do? I figured that it was the starter interlock but I can't start the car unless I depress the clutch pedal.

 

To install the pedal stopper pads, depress the pedal and install the pad.

To make it easier to install the brake pedal stopper pad; start the car and use your body to hold the brake pedal down, while you install the stopper pad.

For the manual transmission, there are actually two clutch switches there. The one located a little higher up is the starter inhibitor clutch switch, which prevents the car from starting if the clutch is not fully depressed. The one located lower where the stopper pad contacts, is if you have cruise control on and press the clutch pedal, the clutch switch will cancel the cruise control set speed.

 

I'll try that in the morning when I have light.

I'm not a big fan of "starter inhibitor switches." Just one more thing to break and if you aren't smart enough to stomp on the clutch when you start the car, you shouldn't be driving a standard.

 

To hold the brake pedal down, you could also use your head (literally).

 

When I was 20 that sort of activity was child's play. Now I'm 54, overweight and have a bad shoulder that only has about 85% of its normal range of motion. I can see myself getting stuck under then and starving to death before any of my neighbors hear my cries for help.

 

There's never been a lot of room underneath the dash with the seat in the way on the earlier generation Accords. They weren't really large cars.