Greetings,

88 accord hatchback 5sp. The "brake lamp" light on the instrument panel stays lit and every bulb on the car is fine. I've replaced the brake light sw. The car is custumized and in the process I installed a lighted spoiler and removed the hatch window brake light. I used the same wires that went to the hatch light to wire the spoiler light. I've tried direct grounding to the chassis as well as using the supplied gr/wh. hot and blk gnd. I do have the service manual but it is of little help. On the wiring schematic there is an arrow pointing to the R rear brake light with the words, "brake light failure sensor", but I see nothing there.This has got me really frustrated. I've been working on the problem, off and on, for 8 yrs. ANY IDEAS

thanks

brian

 

Is the brake light on the dash the one that turns on when you pull up the emergency brake?

 

You can download a shop manual for an 86 accord in the Online Manuals thread in the DIY section.

Here are the locations that the manual shows for the failure sensors and the control unit.

 

Nope, that one works as it's supposed to. It's the one that shows if any doors are open or the rear hatch is open. It also has a "brake lamp" light.

 

Thanks, I'll take a closer look at my manuals, I have several. On the schematic it shows it in the rear but yours shows it up under the dash. I just want to find it no matter where it is.

 

you are sure that it is not screwd into the rt tail lite assembly ?? white or black ?? 2 phillip screws?

 

I've found 2 small plastic boxes. One is 2x2 and one 2x11/2. Inside are circuit boards with either 2 or 3 copper coils. The left one also has a diode. There is no arching on either board, they look fine. If they are not a ton of $ I'll replace them both and see what happens. I imagine I could also bypass these all together. What do you think?

brian

 

I looked at hondaautomotiveparts.com and it looks like one is 20 and the other is 30. The 86 shop manual that I am referencing can be downloaded from http://www.spoonertuner.com/manuals

There is no need to throw money at a working part. You should probably diagnose first, since you already removed the two sensors.

Page 25-68 shows the electrical tests for the sensors. There are also some tests for a third sensor on 25-69, but the wiring diagram says that control the KG model only. I don't how to tell if your accord is a kg model. That is the module that is under the dash in the pic I posted above.