panel lights activated by brakes!

[TG]

Please help. I have a '95 Legacy sedan 2.2L and when I step on the brake
pedal the instrument and HVAC lights come on, dimmer than if the lights are
on to drive at night but they are definitely on. Doesn't matter if the car
is running or not, the key doesn't even have to be in the ignition. TG

 

[richard gary clark]

Now this sounds like an earth fault. Check around the rear light clusters,
and find where they connect to to the car body. This earth has probably
become corroded.

 

[Jim Stewart]

Please help. I have a '95 Legacy sedan 2.2L and when I step on the brake
pedal the instrument and HVAC lights come on, dimmer than if the lights are
on to drive at night but they are definitely on. Doesn't matter if the car
is running or not, the key doesn't even have to be in the ignition. TG

Is there anything that isn't broke on your car

 

[Carl Wedekind]

Check your dual filament bulbs for a sagging brake filament touching the
tail light filament.

Carl

 

[TG]

What are you talking about? What else is wrong with it? Maybe this isn't the
place for help. I do appreciate those who helped me. TG

 

[Jason]

Hey! I have a similar problem on my '00 Legacy GT. I noticed it
about a month ago. I have a 5 speed manual. See if you can duplicate
some of these other symptoms:

1. Engine is running, I'm in reverse and feet are on the brake +
clutch. If I turn off the ignition and TAKE THE KEY OUT the engine
keeps running as long as my foot is on the brake! Take foot off
brake, engine stops running gracefully.

2. Engine not running, transmission is still in reverse, no key in
the ignition. If I step on the brake, the instrument cluster lights
up and the HVAC fan comes on, but the radio does not. I am unable to
duplicate this state with the key in the ignition!

3. Engine is running, I am driving normally down the road with the
headlights off. (DRL's are on) If I step on the brake, the backlight
on my radio display goes out! If I turn the headlights on, the radio
light does not go out when I step on the brake, i.e. it behaves
normally.

This has been going on for about a month, it may or may not be related
to the 60,000 mile service I had. Do these symptoms together indicate
a particular fault?

~Jason

 

[Dominic Richens]

Hey! I have a similar problem on my '00 Legacy GT. I noticed it
about a month ago. I have a 5 speed manual. See if you can duplicate
some of these other symptoms:

1. Engine is running, I'm in reverse and feet are on the brake +
clutch. If I turn off the ignition and TAKE THE KEY OUT the engine
keeps running as long as my foot is on the brake! Take foot off
brake, engine stops running gracefully.

2. Engine not running, transmission is still in reverse, no key in
the ignition. If I step on the brake, the instrument cluster lights
up and the HVAC fan comes on, but the radio does not. I am unable to
duplicate this state with the key in the ignition!

3. Engine is running, I am driving normally down the road with the
headlights off. (DRL's are on) If I step on the brake, the backlight
on my radio display goes out! If I turn the headlights on, the radio
light does not go out when I step on the brake, i.e. it behaves
normally.

This has been going on for about a month, it may or may not be related
to the 60,000 mile service I had. Do these symptoms together indicate
a particular fault?

Yes, your car is possessed.

 

[Edward Hayes]

I like Richards answer about brake light bulb. eddie

 

[Alan]

The problems are all related. Either there is a short in a wiring harness,
or something is plugged into the wrong place.

 

[ed]

Worth checking if there are any wires touching the brake or clutch pedal,
which might be chafed and making contact when pedal is pushed.
Post re: bulb filament also happens occasionally .
Ed B.

 

[BBB]

Some of the suggestions have pointed to the possibility of a sneak path
feeding electricity from the brake light, its wiring, or the socket,
back to the panel lights through the tail light, its wiring, or the
socket. A first test to start isolating things would be to remove the
bulbs from both sides and see whether the problem goes away.

The fact that the panel lights are dimmer than normal means that there's
a voltage drop happening somewhere. This argues against there being a
short in the wiring and in favor of the problem happening inside a bulb,
due to the filaments touching each other or, as has been suggested, a
path through both filaments because the socket has somehow lost its
ground.

 

[TG]

I liked it too but that wasn't the problem. Still looking. TG

 

[Mike B.]

This happened to me with an Opel GT. Found out a brake light fuse was high
resistance. It dimmed my lights or make something glow brighter. I used a
resistor checker to figure it out.
Check all your fuses under the hood. If you pop a headlight fuse, all the
headlights (high and low) will glow at 1/2 brightness. They have some wierd
wiring under the hoods.