My 88 N/A has 5th gen taillights, installed by the previous owner. My problem is whenever i apply the brakes my brake light warning indicator goes on. Has anyone who has done the taillight swap encountered this problem? Or could it be unrelated to the swap. Of course i've verified that all the bulbs are good...

Thanks

 

Oops! I mean series 4 with series 5 taillights....DUH! :-P

 

one of your lights is out. The bulbs are dual bulbs...they are running lights and brake lights. Just because they are on when your headlights are on doesnt mean your brake lights arent out....there are 2 pieces inside the bulb.

 

I've checked the bulbs... they all light. Both brakes and tails are working.

 

you may have a short on the harness somewhere. check the wires carefully.

 

that doesnt make sense...are they old bulbs? maybe its time to replace them all anyways...

 

Not sure how old they are... i bought the car about a year ago, so they are at least that old. I thought maybe it had something to do with the resistance of the S5 lights being slightly higher than the S4's for some reason. I'll try all new bulbs to see if that helps. thanks

 

3rd brake light??

 

it could be a problem in the braking system itself. I would give it a quick once over to make sure everythign is ok and with no leaks etc.

 

It has nothing to do with the rest of the braking system (how could it?) and it has nothing to do with the the S5 having different bulbs (they're the same as S4). I'm not sure what the problem is, but it's not these two things.

Assuming you have five working brake bulbs, it may be cold-solder issue in the CPU (where the brake warning light relay is).

 

this is just my 2 cents, but have you checked the fluid level of your brake master cylinder, because if it is low the brake light will come on.

 

No, if the brake fluid is low the BRAKE warning light will come on, whether or not you're pushing the brake pedal. If a brake bulb is blown the STOP warning light will come on, and this will happen only when the brake pedal is pressed (as the original poster described).

 

Title edited to reflect the real question

 

are they led bulbs? if they are then that would cause that too.guess how i know...

 

that happened to me, but after i replaced bulbs, no more brake light warning

 

So When You Changed The Bulb In The Lights The Brake Light Stoped Coming On? Or Did You Change The Bulb In The Dash?

 

No, they aren't LED's. I'm assuming that last question was for calrx7...?

 

Boy do i feel stupid! I went to replace the bulbs and discovered one of the sockets had some corrosion build-up... cleaned it off and no more warning light. Thanks for the suggestions anyway. I promise i'll check more thoroughly next time i think i have a problem.