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Odd electrical problem


Daytona_chic
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So yesterday I noticed that when I press my brake pedal, both my gauge lights and running light turn on. Once I let go the both turn off. Has anyone had this happen to them? I'm trying to find a starting point so I can fix it.

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Have you recently changed your tail lights? Maybe your brake light switch/wiring is powering the running light wiring or they are tied together somehow...I saw this happen on a botched trailer wiring install and it was an easy fix.

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It seems like there is a wire making a connection somewhere it shouldn't be between the brake light wires and the tail light wiring causing both circuits to come on at the same time. Have you recently moved any wiring up under the dash, in the rear of the truck, or added trailer wiring?

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Although unlikely depending on the size of the hole, there could be moisture in the tail light housing that is making a connection between contacts for the lights, or because of the moisture, the contacts have corroded together causing them to power each other. If this is the case, when you turn on your headlights, your brake lights should be bright, instead of just being the tail light filament on.

 

Good thing about either of those scenarios, once the bulb is replaced and the contacts cleaned, the problem should go away :)

Edited by RoguePathy
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Sorry for the late reply, this last couple of days have been busy. I checked all of the bulbs and their respective connections with no signs of rust or damage. Next will be following wires which given my previous experience with my truck, holds no joy in my eyes. I will update everyone as I make progress with this.

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I had a simular problem on my old Pathfinder. It took a while to find but it turned out somebody had wired the trailer wire harness wrong. If you hit the brakes with the headlights on would cause all kinds of stuff to happen....from ash tray lights coming on to the third brake light being on all the time. Rewired the harness correctly and all lights went back to normal. It might not be your problem but worth a check. The tail lights had been wired to the brake light circuit.

Edited by kdj
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I think the politicaly correct term is "retread". Yes someone did hook 5 wires into 4 but in their defence they did use a crap load of black tape on it. It took longer to get all the tape off that it did to fix it.

Edited by kdj
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Definitely not a hitch connection problem, I don't have one yet. I do know that the driverside fender did take a hit previously so there may be crushed/exposed wires there causing the problem. I may wait until I have a chance to pick up another fender. You can see what I'm talking about in my build thread in the members rides section.

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I think the politicaly correct term is "retread". Yes someone did hook 5 wires into 4 but in their defence they did use a crap load of black tape on it. It took longer to get all the tape off that it did to fix it.

Sounds like a great solution "hey lets just jam some wire in there and use 3 ft of tape on it, there, that'll hold it!" hyuck hyuck

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I'd have a look at the ground wires for the tail/brake lights. The two filaments share a ground, which isn't a problem normally, but take away that ground and those two filaments form a bridge between your brake light circuit and your markers.

 

I'd take out one tail light bulb, see if that made the problem go away, and if not, put it back and try the other. That should narrow down which side you're up against. If the ground point isn't obvious inside the fender (never looked for it so I don't know) I'd check the EL section of the manual to try and work out where the wire goes.

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Yes it does, figured out the problem it was a faulty bulb. When installed it was bridging the connection, swapped in a new one and solved the problem.

Just last week saw the same issue on a Versa, the main difference being that with an electronic throttle body it was going into a brake over-ride causing a hesitation. Caught it when I was driving it and noticed that the running lights came on when applying the brakes. Doesn't happen often.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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