No brake lights

[winnipaw]

While trying to trace circuit continuity, to find brake light outage, I traced the lead up through the steering column to the four way flasher. Would this circuit continue to the brake circuit, or would the brake wire be separate? I dont want to run a whole new wire from the brake switch to the rear brakes. Any ideas?

[Tommy]

Wiring can vary from car to car, so without knowing more about your particular car, your question is difficult for me to answer. .... But, the most common cause for brake light failure in a fiberglass body car is a bad ground. Before I started tracing wiring though the entire car, I'd either check the ground connection to the brake lights, or run a homemade jumper wire from the brake light ground terminal to a known good ground. If the lights start working, you've found your problem.

[winnipaw]

My car is very much a Ford mustang with a Ford Steering column and fuse panel. All grounds have been checked and are good. The mystery is why the brake wire fom the switch goes up through the steering column loom. Where does it end in the steering wheel hub? I cant find any continuity in the steering column.

[Barnsnake]

On many vehicles the brake lights are inter-connected with the turn signals and the emergency flashers. Many use the same bulb filament for brake lights and signals. If they weren't inter-connected the rear signals wouldn't flash while the brakes are on. It makes for a potentially confusing circuit.

[winnipaw]

Thanks Jim. I guess I'll continue to play with my test light to find that circuit within a circuit. If anyone has a solution,let me know.

[Tommy]

winnipaw,
I just did a Google Image search for the words "four way flasher schematic." It returned more than 20,000 images. Perhaps looking at a few of them would help you understand how your car is wired. Or maybe you can get lucky and find the schematic for your particular car.

[WPa Cobra]

My lights quit some time ago...2nd thing I checked was the brake switch....bad switch....bought 2, they are cheap !

[YerDugliness]

Originally Posted by WPa Cobra

My lights quit some time ago...2nd thing I checked was the brake switch....bad switch....bought 2, they are cheap !

I will soon change the way my brake lights are actuated. Right now they are actuated by a "plunger" switch that makes connection between the two terminals when I push on the brake pedal. That has proven to be unsatisfactory, as there are times when the contact pad becomes dislodged from its location and then when the brake pedal is released the lights continue to shine brightly.

Soon I am going to replace the brake master cylinder and will use a pressure activated switch operated by an unused port on the master cylinder.....I think that will be a more reliable manner of switching the brake lights, as I currently have to climib under the dash at least once a week to reposition the contact pad !

As for the wiring routing....my car uses what I think is a Pinto steering column, might be a Mustang II column, I don't know. All it has is a turn signal lever on the left side of the column....but I think the wiring goes up into the column from the plunger style switch down under the dash.

Cheers!

Dugly

[PANAVIA]

If they used a mustang column then the same year mustang manual or diagram, might give you vision into the color codes and or wiring , at least a starting place -