Jhayes90

Hello everyone, I noticed today (with help from a friend) that my right break light doesn't come on when the break is pressed. This is only happening if my headlights are turned OFF. If my lights are ON the break light works and responds as it normally would...?

Now, my plan was to take off the light and replace this bulb to see if that was the problem. Unfortunately, living in Rhode Island makes everything turn to rust, AKA the screws are beyond stripped and rusted into place (I blame the previous owner)

Has anyone experienced this? I don't want to waste my energy ripping apart this break light if the bulb isn't even the problem, plus it's dark and too damn cold to be fumbling around aimlessly!

dave1123

Sounds like the grounds in the harness at the light assemblies. Those screws are threaded into plastic and RI isn't anything special as far as rust is concerned. We all use salt on our roads in the great northeast! We don't call Syracuse the Salt City for nothing! Unfortunately those screws have to come out to do ANYTHING!

I'd check the bulb holders for being melted around the contacts. The brake lights get hot enough to melt those holders so the contacts loose connection and when the tailights are on, the brakelights can ground thru the tailight circuits. Try swapping the reverse light holders for the tail/brake holders and see if that cures the problem. All the bulbs are the same and all the holders are the same. The difference is in the way they are wired.

Jhayes90

Thanks Dave! I will give this a try tomorrow after those scews get a good WD-40 bath...

dave1123

PB Blaster works much better and doesn't evaporate as quickly. Remember those screws are threaded into PLASTIC, not metal.

KevinS_WJ

The rear brake lights for the WJ are problematic at best. And take care to make sure that they're screwed in the correct way of 2 contacts on one side and one on the other.

dave1123

Well, that's a misstatement at best. My 2000 WJ has 207K miles on it and I've NEVER had a problem with the rear lighting, BUT I don't sit in traffic with my foot on the brake very often. The problems occur when the bulbs overheat and the plastic bulb holders get soft. The brass contacts that press on the bulbs retract into the holders and break contact. The bulbs are designed to be inserted into the holders either way.

KevinS_WJ

I see. You never had the problem, so it must be untrue.

If you look at the bulb holders, you'll notice that one of the flanges is wider than the other. The holders are designed to be inserted one way. I had the pleasure of owning my former WJ where the PO forced it into position and broke out the difference between the two (which I learned by getting a warning ticket for a malfunctioning brake light.)

Having recently switched out my brake and back-up lights to LEDs on my current 2004 WJ, I feel comfortable opining knowledgeably on this issue.

dave1123

Ah, but the fault was not in the design, but the fact that the indexing locators were forced enough to deform them. I'd say that was human error, not a fault of design. Nothing is "idiot proof!" I will admit that the bulb holders are very hard to unlock, but that is by design also.

When you switched to LEDs, did you use self-ballasting bulbs or did you have to use resistors? When I say self-ballasting, I mean Can-Bus compatible.

KevinS_WJ

I do design for a living. It's a flawed design. Heat and corrosion are equal factors. It's flawed just as humans are. We used to own a 2005 PT Cruiser, which also had a similar design, and it too was problematic.

I used self-ballasting, but didn't switch out the turn signals because I didn't feel the benefits outweighed the drawbacks for the additional cost of resistors or an LED-capable relay replacement.

dave1123

Ah, yes! There is another Chrysler design fault. Why does a turn signal relay have to have 3 logic circuits in it? I just replaced a faulty one and it's location is pretty near inaccessible! I'm not saying engineers are perfect by any means, but as mechanics, we have to deal with their screwups. They also don't like criticism.