Brake lamp warning light won't go off
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 1
Effective brake light warning fix.
So this solution may not address the root problem that some are experiencing but it's virtually guaranteed to make that brake light warning go away. I was getting the same issue while using LED upgrades.
Apparently not enough current is going through the circuit to throw the relays in the sensor units. It's a cool design if you check out the electrical schematics in a Chiltons or Haynes manual. Anyway, what needs to happen here is the white with green stripe wire needs to be drained to ground.
That wire is actually putting out ~10-11v positive at 0.004 amps. That means 40mW which is less than a thousandth of what the low-beams are consuming or about the same as a very dim LED that you'd see in a toy. You get the idea. It won't spark or get hot. It seemed strange but this is what the brake light sensor relays set out to do when they're working properly with standard working bulbs in place - it provides a ground to that wire.
The fix is super simple. Look for the neat bundle of wires in the black plastic tube in the trunk on the driver's side where you pull back the carpet liner (it can be kind of a pain because the carpet isn't that flexible and you have to clear the trunk hinges.) I carefully freed the wires from the split tubing and connected the white with green stripe "signal" wire to one of the two thick black ground wires and that was it. Just take the key out and put it back in again and turn to position II or start and you'll see the light went away (because the circuit in the instrument panel thinks that the brake light sensor is working and reporting normal operation.)
If you want to minimize cutting and splicing wires, you can be slick and just feed the exposed end of the green with white stripe wire into either the nearby power antenna harness (you'd have to make sure that you put it in the hole for the black ground wire) or the harness closer to the tail light where the trailer wiring is depending on where you pulled and snipped things. You could double over the length of bare copper or twist it up good so that it fits snug and won't fall out.
No having to tape over it, ignore it, deal with it, or go through the hassle of taking the shifter, console, trim, and cluster out to pull the warning bulb. Problem solved.
Apparently not enough current is going through the circuit to throw the relays in the sensor units. It's a cool design if you check out the electrical schematics in a Chiltons or Haynes manual. Anyway, what needs to happen here is the white with green stripe wire needs to be drained to ground.
That wire is actually putting out ~10-11v positive at 0.004 amps. That means 40mW which is less than a thousandth of what the low-beams are consuming or about the same as a very dim LED that you'd see in a toy. You get the idea. It won't spark or get hot. It seemed strange but this is what the brake light sensor relays set out to do when they're working properly with standard working bulbs in place - it provides a ground to that wire.
The fix is super simple. Look for the neat bundle of wires in the black plastic tube in the trunk on the driver's side where you pull back the carpet liner (it can be kind of a pain because the carpet isn't that flexible and you have to clear the trunk hinges.) I carefully freed the wires from the split tubing and connected the white with green stripe "signal" wire to one of the two thick black ground wires and that was it. Just take the key out and put it back in again and turn to position II or start and you'll see the light went away (because the circuit in the instrument panel thinks that the brake light sensor is working and reporting normal operation.)
If you want to minimize cutting and splicing wires, you can be slick and just feed the exposed end of the green with white stripe wire into either the nearby power antenna harness (you'd have to make sure that you put it in the hole for the black ground wire) or the harness closer to the tail light where the trailer wiring is depending on where you pulled and snipped things. You could double over the length of bare copper or twist it up good so that it fits snug and won't fall out.
No having to tape over it, ignore it, deal with it, or go through the hassle of taking the shifter, console, trim, and cluster out to pull the warning bulb. Problem solved.
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2
thank for the info very helpfulSo this solution may not address the root problem that some are experiencing but it's virtually guaranteed to make that brake light warning go away. I was getting the same issue while using LED upgrades.
Apparently not enough current is going through the circuit to throw the relays in the sensor units. It's a cool design if you check out the electrical schematics in a Chiltons or Haynes manual. Anyway, what needs to happen here is the white with green stripe wire needs to be drained to ground.
That wire is actually putting out ~10-11v positive at 0.004 amps. That means 40mW which is less than a thousandth of what the low-beams are consuming or about the same as a very dim LED that you'd see in a toy. You get the idea. It won't spark or get hot. It seemed strange but this is what the brake light sensor relays set out to do when they're working properly with standard working bulbs in place - it provides a ground to that wire.
The fix is super simple. Look for the neat bundle of wires in the black plastic tube in the trunk on the driver's side where you pull back the carpet liner (it can be kind of a pain because the carpet isn't that flexible and you have to clear the trunk hinges.) I carefully freed the wires from the split tubing and connected the white with green stripe "signal" wire to one of the two thick black ground wires and that was it. Just take the key out and put it back in again and turn to position II or start and you'll see the light went away (because the circuit in the instrument panel thinks that the brake light sensor is working and reporting normal operation.)
If you want to minimize cutting and splicing wires, you can be slick and just feed the exposed end of the green with white stripe wire into either the nearby power antenna harness (you'd have to make sure that you put it in the hole for the black ground wire) or the harness closer to the tail light where the trailer wiring is depending on where you pulled and snipped things. You could double over the length of bare copper or twist it up good so that it fits snug and won't fall out.
No having to tape over it, ignore it, deal with it, or go through the hassle of taking the shifter, console, trim, and cluster out to pull the warning bulb. Problem solved.
Apparently not enough current is going through the circuit to throw the relays in the sensor units. It's a cool design if you check out the electrical schematics in a Chiltons or Haynes manual. Anyway, what needs to happen here is the white with green stripe wire needs to be drained to ground.
That wire is actually putting out ~10-11v positive at 0.004 amps. That means 40mW which is less than a thousandth of what the low-beams are consuming or about the same as a very dim LED that you'd see in a toy. You get the idea. It won't spark or get hot. It seemed strange but this is what the brake light sensor relays set out to do when they're working properly with standard working bulbs in place - it provides a ground to that wire.
The fix is super simple. Look for the neat bundle of wires in the black plastic tube in the trunk on the driver's side where you pull back the carpet liner (it can be kind of a pain because the carpet isn't that flexible and you have to clear the trunk hinges.) I carefully freed the wires from the split tubing and connected the white with green stripe "signal" wire to one of the two thick black ground wires and that was it. Just take the key out and put it back in again and turn to position II or start and you'll see the light went away (because the circuit in the instrument panel thinks that the brake light sensor is working and reporting normal operation.)
If you want to minimize cutting and splicing wires, you can be slick and just feed the exposed end of the green with white stripe wire into either the nearby power antenna harness (you'd have to make sure that you put it in the hole for the black ground wire) or the harness closer to the tail light where the trailer wiring is depending on where you pulled and snipped things. You could double over the length of bare copper or twist it up good so that it fits snug and won't fall out.
No having to tape over it, ignore it, deal with it, or go through the hassle of taking the shifter, console, trim, and cluster out to pull the warning bulb. Problem solved.
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dmjole
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