Please help!! Brake lights stuck on
12-04-2013, 07:58 PM
#1
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Year: 1990
Model: Cherokee
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Please help!! Brake lights stuck on
I have a 90 xj and my brake lights stay on when the engine and all switches are off. I opened the door and can smell that electric smell like you get when an electrical device is on or hot. When i press the brake pedal the lights do get brighter so i dont think its the pedal switch. Anyone have any ideas? oh and i pulled the break light fuse and they go off.
12-04-2013, 08:35 PM
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Year: 1990
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12-04-2013, 08:38 PM
#4
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Year: 1998 Sport
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Not always. My ex had her ford do the same thing. When you don't push the peddle it's shorting and not making full contact. When you push the peddle it's making full contact.
12-04-2013, 08:41 PM
#5
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awesome, thanks you i will check it out. is the switch on the driver side or firewall side of the pedal?
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12-05-2013, 02:18 PM
#9
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Year: 1990
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so there is a 4 amp inline fuse that connects to one of the wires on the brake light switch and then goes straight into the fuse panel. when i pull it the lights are no longer stuck on and i do have brake lights still. just not sure what else isnt working since i pulled it?
12-05-2013, 03:35 PM
#10
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Year: 1989 xj sport 2dr
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so there is a 4 amp inline fuse that connects to one of the wires on the brake light switch and then goes straight into the fuse panel. when i pull it the lights are no longer stuck on and i do have brake lights still. just not sure what else isnt working since i pulled it?
12-05-2013, 09:28 PM
#11
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not sure but now my dumb bendix brake system isnt acting all funny. it actually brakes without wheel chatter?! lol i gues it wasnt a bad fuse to pull seeing as how everything works fine now haha
12-06-2013, 05:52 AM
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Year: 1998 Classic (I'll get it running soon....) and 02 Grand
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So now you know - when somebody on a forum says, "Replace this or that." without doing any testing, it's usually the wrong thing to do.
Test first, then replace.
In this case, you could have tested the switch just by disconnecting it, and putting a jumper across the connnector. You would have functioanlly replaced the swtich and would have immedicately seen that it made no difference. So, you'd know the problem was elsewhere without spending money on a switch you didn't need.
Throwing parts at a problem based on somebody saying "Oh, I think it must be this part." or, "Well, I had a problem that sounds the same and replacing that part fixed it." is lousy troubleshooting, and often very expensive, but it's what we see most often on this board.
Replacing basic maintenance items (coil, plugs, rotor, etc., and sometimes sensors) is an exception, of course. They are known problem areas and should be done on most of these old vehicles.
12-06-2013, 10:59 PM
#14
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Year: 1990
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So now you know - when somebody on a forum says, "Replace this or that." without doing any testing, it's usually the wrong thing to do.
Test first, then replace.
In this case, you could have tested the switch just by disconnecting it, and putting a jumper across the connnector. You would have functioanlly replaced the swtich and would have immedicately seen that it made no difference. So, you'd know the problem was elsewhere without spending money on a switch you didn't need.
Throwing parts at a problem based on somebody saying "Oh, I think it must be this part." or, "Well, I had a problem that sounds the same and replacing that part fixed it." is lousy troubleshooting, and often very expensive, but it's what we see most often on this board.
Replacing basic maintenance items (coil, plugs, rotor, etc., and sometimes sensors) is an exception, of course. They are known problem areas and should be done on most of these old vehicles.
Test first, then replace.
In this case, you could have tested the switch just by disconnecting it, and putting a jumper across the connnector. You would have functioanlly replaced the swtich and would have immedicately seen that it made no difference. So, you'd know the problem was elsewhere without spending money on a switch you didn't need.
Throwing parts at a problem based on somebody saying "Oh, I think it must be this part." or, "Well, I had a problem that sounds the same and replacing that part fixed it." is lousy troubleshooting, and often very expensive, but it's what we see most often on this board.
Replacing basic maintenance items (coil, plugs, rotor, etc., and sometimes sensors) is an exception, of course. They are known problem areas and should be done on most of these old vehicles.
12-07-2013, 12:54 AM
#15
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Year: 1989 xj sport 2dr
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 12 hole bosch Injectors
So now you know - when somebody on a forum says, "Replace this or that." without doing any testing, it's usually the wrong thing to do.
Test first, then replace.
In this case, you could have tested the switch just by disconnecting it, and putting a jumper across the connnector. You would have functioanlly replaced the swtich and would have immedicately seen that it made no difference. So, you'd know the problem was elsewhere without spending money on a switch you didn't need.
Throwing parts at a problem based on somebody saying "Oh, I think it must be this part." or, "Well, I had a problem that sounds the same and replacing that part fixed it." is lousy troubleshooting, and often very expensive, but it's what we see most often on this board.
Replacing basic maintenance items (coil, plugs, rotor, etc., and sometimes sensors) is an exception, of course. They are known problem areas and should be done on most of these old vehicles.
Test first, then replace.
In this case, you could have tested the switch just by disconnecting it, and putting a jumper across the connnector. You would have functioanlly replaced the swtich and would have immedicately seen that it made no difference. So, you'd know the problem was elsewhere without spending money on a switch you didn't need.
Throwing parts at a problem based on somebody saying "Oh, I think it must be this part." or, "Well, I had a problem that sounds the same and replacing that part fixed it." is lousy troubleshooting, and often very expensive, but it's what we see most often on this board.
Replacing basic maintenance items (coil, plugs, rotor, etc., and sometimes sensors) is an exception, of course. They are known problem areas and should be done on most of these old vehicles.
Last edited by freegdr; 12-07-2013 at 01:03 AM.