Brake Light electrical problem -- Need Help
 

OK, here is what I have. I just bought my first Honda last week. I love the car, but I am having some major problems with the brake lights. When I bought the car, the guy said there was a rpoblem with the horn blowing fuses. The price was only $400, so I figured that it was OK to have to fix it. I found out that I also do not have any brake lights. Both horn and brake lights are on the same fuse. I put a new fuse in and honked the horn about 8 times before the fuse blew. I figured that the prob is in the horn circuit somewhere. So, I replaced the fuse and stepped on the brake. The fuse blew again. So now, I'm not sure where my issue is. I put in a new fuse, and had brake lights for a few hours, with the exception of the driver's side. After a few hours the fuse blew again. Yesterday, my drivers side rear turn signal is not working, even with a new bulb. Now, as soon as I put a fuse into the fusebox for the horn and brake light, it blows right away, just as soon as I put the fuse in. I'm not really familiar with vehicle electric, and I really don't want to take it to the repair shop because of the cost. So, if someone has had this problem or knows what may be causing this, please respond to this post. I really need to get this fixed because my GF drives 90 miles to work and the gas is killing us because she drives a Jeep Liberty now, lol. Thanks in advance for all your help.

RE: Brake Light electrical problem -- Need Help
 

do you have any idea of

WHAT YEAR Accord you bought?

Are the rear tail lights full of water?

RE: Brake Light electrical problem -- Need Help
 

Sorry, it's a 1991 Honda Accord DX. No, there is no water in the taillights. The fuse is blowing as soon as it touches in the fuse box. Maybe a wire exposed somewhere? Would it be easier for me to just run new wires right from the brake switch? I would also have to run new wires to the horn in order for it to pass inspection. I was just wondering if maybe this was a common problem and someone could tell me where to look if it was common. Please let me know if anyone has any info about this.

RE: Brake Light electrical problem -- Need Help
 

OK, this is what I found, just in case someone else has this kind of problem. My power wire from the u/h fuse box to the brake switch had a short in it. I replaced that with a new wire and inline fuse. Also, the wire connector at my drivers side taillight was also bad. I had to bypass that connector. All lights working fine now.

RE: Brake Light electrical problem -- Need Help
 

OK, now I have a "Brake Lamp" light on in the service center area of the dash, where the open door indicator lights are. I checked all the lights, everything's working great. Does anyone know why this light would be on? It's not the "Brake light", it's a "Brake LAMP" indicator. Let me know, thanks. Also, if anyone is interested, i will be selling this car because my girlfriend was transferred close to home. I bought this car for her because of the gas mileage, but now that she's working close to home, we don't need it anymore. It's a 1991 Honda Accord DX, it's a base model, but it's in good shape with 160,000 miles. Interior is excellent. Email me at tcas1355@yahoo.com if interested. Not sure of price yet, so make offer and we'll talk. I have over $1000 into it, but i'm open to offers or trades. Looking for Geo Tracker or similar small 4x4.

RE: Brake Light electrical problem -- Need Help
 

That's supposed to indicate a burned-out brake light bulb. But there's a couple things to remember...

There's 2 filaments in the bulbs. Just because the bulb works for parking/tail lights, doesn't mean it works for brake lights. Check by actually pressing the brake pedal.

That system works by comparing the wattage side-to-side. Sometimesa mis-matched bulb, ora dirty/corrodedsocket can trip the warning.

RE: Brake Light electrical problem -- Need Help
 

You may want to just replace both brake lights with new bulbs at the same time so the resistance is exactly the same. The brake light sensor circuits measure resistance between the 2. JimBlake is right in that these bulbs are dual-filament and that you may not notice that one of the filaments is not illuminating-or may be intemittent-even if you do a continuity test. Check out this post:
https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/m_34058/tm.htm