Hey guys,

So my parking lights all work but my brake lights don't work and I checked all the fuses bulbs and relays and even replaced the brake light switch above the pedal and still no luck. Any suggestions on what might be causing the problem. The other thing is the pervious owner towed the jeep behind an rv and it looks like the wiring set up for my tail lights are not factory, could there be a problem somewhere in there? I do have trailer lights but i dont think those are the issue.

thanks for the feedback

 

Good place to start looking...most homebrew trailer electrical work is crap...look for bad splices, poor grounds, that sort of thing. You may want to remove all the add-on junk and get everything back to factory square one.

 

That's what I'm thinking. Just taking everything out and putting it back to stock. Thanks for the feedback. I'll post tomorrow and see if it works out.

 

buy a test light start checking for voltage will help greatly .

 

I agree with freegdr. Get a test light or a multimeter and test for voltage. I would start at the stop light switch. One wire will have constant battery voltage and the other will feed the brake lights when the pedal is pressed down.

With pedal up, test both wires, one should have battery voltage the other will be dead. Now press the pedal down and test the other wire. You should have battery voltage. If this is the case, the switch is good and you need to check the wiring going back to the brake lights.

 

So I took all the messy wiring out and made it back to stock and still no luck, I tested the bulb socket and its getting power and I checked the wiring and nothing seems cracked or chewed up, all fuses are fine as well. What else could this be???

 

OK, good, you eliminated all the junk and you tested to make sure you are getting voltage. Make sure the socket contacts are clean...no corrosion or moisture. Make sure the sockets and tail light assemblies are well grounded.

 

The tail light and the brake light are grounded by the same ground wire. You should have a wire going in to the socket for tail light and another going in for the brake light. I am also seeing a wire going out for the ground. So you should have 3 wires at each light socket. Check to see if the PO messed with the light socket somehow.

If the tail light works and you are getting voltage for the brake light, the ground connection would be the problem.

 

On my 91 XJ, the ground wires for the stop lights are black and the ground point is inside the left rear quarter panel. However, it has to go thru several splices to get there which leads me to believe that you would be having issues with other systems if this ground point were bad (assuming your 01 is wired the same as my 91). Anyway, make sure you have continuity from the ground side of the sockets to vehicle ground...you need an ohmmeter to check this...(perhaps the original owner broke this path intentionally or unintentionally) and again, make sure the sockets are in good shape and not all corroded out.

 

The common point for the ground is at the light bulb socket. If the tail lights work and you have voltage for the brake lights what is missing is a ground for the brake light. Since you do not appear to be having any other problems, I would check the sockets really good.

 

Got it fixed, finally just took it to the shop. Turns out I had some electrical issues with fuses and the brake pedal bushings weren't allowing the pedal to return fully. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.