taillight stays on, and car does not crank
 

93' FD has been in storage for a few years. I finally feel like working on it. Here's the symptoms and what I've tried.

Car has a dead battery, so I pulled a new one out. No crank

I notice that as soon I plug in the battery without a key in the ignition, the taillight stays on

Just in case, and since I read in some other threads, I changed out all the fuses (30A and 40A) at the battery. I also checked all other fuses and nothing was blown except the air conditioning fuse, which I forgot to replace. That shouldn't affect cranking though right?

I have no check engine light.

I see that when I put the key to "on" or "start" the battery charge indicator is on. But, I've tried a new charged battery, a jump start battery, as well as pulled a battery from another car just in case. No starting.

When I put it away, everything was fine. I never had the taillight come on like this, or had any cranking issues. Can any one please advise?

btw, i get no clicking from the starter at all

ooo, and I forgot to say that I took the clutch switch and spliced a wire. still nothing

Look on the brake pedal arm...there is a small plastic "button/stop" for the brake light switch. Quite often the plastic stop disintegrates and now there is nothing for the brake switch plunger to press against to turn the brake lights off. Quick fix is to pop a small bolt (10mm) and nut in the hole on the brake pedal arm where the plastic stop used to reside. Problem solved.

Also, check your brake light lens for damage (melted/warped) from staying on.

yup the brake switch that opens the circuit is gone

not the other problem

still have a problem with the starter though...

just wanted to also say that i spliced both the clutch switch and the security relay and no cranking still. anything else before i check the starter and the solenoid?