Mushy B

hey guy's i just want to start off by saying thanks for any help you can give me because this isn't an easy prob. for me right now. The other day i was parking my car and i noticed when i press my brakes it activates my parking lights and cluster gauge lights. Yet neither the parking lights or cluster gauge lights will activate the brake lights. This seems to be doing a good power drain on my battery since it likes to read at 8 volts when it's idling. So there's a short somewhere, the question is... where? Because the voltage is only going in one direction ( brake lights can turn on other lights yet other lights can't turn on brake lights) this must mean that it's most likely occuring in a relay somewhere. There was an alarm system in the car that i dismantelled and took out as much of what i could find because it was totally draining the car's power and ability to drive ( stalling, misfiring, etc.) So this could also be an issue. I have a manual with the electrical diagrams but after looking at them for a long time i haven't been able to come to a conclusion on common wires/ relays/ power sources that may be causing this between the three components. I did find that the auto clock in the dash does recieve and give voltage in the line of power, and it does turn on and off periodically, mostly stays off though. The brake lights haven't been turning on the other lights until this week and the clock has been messed up ever since i bought her. So i kind of threw out that idea too. Once again, thanks a lot guys for any help or suggestions you can give me.
- John O.

Icemark

First thing I would look at is that it sounds like the wrong bulb was put in the brake lights

Double check it was a 1157, (dual post) not a 1156 bulb (single post)

and as far as if the volt meter is reading only 8 volts at idle your alternator is bad or disconnected.

any time the voltmeter drops under 12.5 volts, the car is running on the battery and the alt is not producing enough power to run the car.

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

Yeah...usually with electrical problems that SEEM large like that the cause is always/usually something stupid like a wrong bulb, bad socket, bad ground....

simply becuase thinking about this logically - how can the a wire for the instrument cluster lights and parking lights (somewhere along its journey through the car) suddenly become connected somehow to the brake light circuit? Simple answer is it usually doesn't - something has to have been touched...corroded or so on..

Mushy B

well thanks guys, you're right there is a single post bulb in there, i'll pick up a new one tomorrow, damn those guys at cap they haven't given me one part that's right for my car, and i'm not lying. they've given me the wrong brake pads, two of the same calipers instead of one for each side, wrong fuel filter, and this light bulb. i must say the light bulb incident falls back on me because i even saw it had one post and figured it was fine because it still worked. thanks for the help haha, i'll let you know if it's changed anything after i replace it.