Help! Brake lights stuck on, killed battery

[Diesel Dan]

Hey Guys

Came out this morning to dead batteries. Figured they were 3 years old and bought replacements. Installed one and i notice that the brake lights were on. fiddled with them and found nothing. Any Ideas what would cause this??? I figure i will keep the new batteries but need to fix the problem.



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thanks



DD

 

[JimBob24]

If you have an electric brake controller you might want to check it by unplugging it from the factory plug and seeing if the brake lights go out. I had one go bad and the brake lights stayed on.



Jim

 

[Diesel Dan]

Thanks Jim,

But no brake controller. We are traveling to gramma's on sat morning and all the packages won't fit in the car



Any one else got any ideas??



DD

 

[kompressor]

I had this problem with my 98. 5 and what happened was the brake light switch had come loose from its mounting, turning on the brake lights. When your brake pedal is up it keeps the switch open and when you push on the brake the switch closes. Kind of works in the reverse of what you might think. I put the switch back in it's holder and tie wrapped it so it wouldn't come out again.

 

[Diesel Dan]

kompressor,

unfortuneatly the brake lights stay on when you hit the petal. I will look at it in the morning as it is 35 out and raining.



Keep the suggestions coming guys



DD

 

[RDHamill]

I had a similar problem, my brake light switch had literally worn out inside, the plunger that the brake pedal pushes wore to the point it would not release the contacts. The replacment was very cheap at the dealer so it got the new one. Good luck and Merry Christmas

 

[DavidBurt]

DieselDan if the brake light switch has gone bad or come loose it won't matter if you step on the peddle or not. Your best bet is to look under the dash and physically check the switch for proper operation.

Dave

 

[jbrowne]

stop lamp switch

I figure that by now you have located the stop light switch. With needle nose pliers you can adjust the plunger by pressing the brake pedal about an inch then pull the plunger out slightly. It will extend out about . 55" Then push it in 4 clicks. This is a required preset for new switch installation. You can feel the clicks as the plunger is reset. Then release the brake pedal. Then lightly pull the brake pedal rearward. This will adjust the plunger to the correct position.

jbrowne (retired seabee)

 

[ohnoitsyu]

I've had this problem on my 06 when it was newer. I got out of the truck, and noticed the brake lights were still on. I was getting ready to go into full diagnostic mode before I started simply moving the brake pedal. The lights went out. I fought that if I lightly pressed and released the pedal, the lights would stay on. It was probably a sticky switch. I was going to take it to the dealer when I had a couple other quirks to fix, but the brake light issue never came back.

 

[Diesel Dan]

Problem solved itself?

It turned out to be the running lights(rears only) and for some reason the problem went away



Thanks for all the suggestions



DD