No Brake Lights

[07GtS197]

I drove my 02 gt from my parents house to my apartment the other night with no problem. The next day I get up and noticed the turn signals don’t work, brake lights not working (all 3), no hazards and the radio has no audio. No fuses are blown and sometimes I’ll get sound again if I drive over a sharp bump. The brakes, I’m assuming, are caused by a malfunctioning multifunction switch, those the wipers and high beams work. What’s up with the radio? What can I test?

 

[cobrajeff96]

Could be the electronic flasher under the dash gave up the ghost and that maybe the radio thing is a separate issue. Flasher is a cheap/easy thing to replace if only to test with being that no fuses are blown as you say.

 

[07GtS197]

But what are the odds that the flasher and hazards went out at the same time? That’s why I’m thinking it’s the multifunction switch.

 

[ttocs]

all of the tail/brake lights makes its way through the multifunction/hazzard switch prior to going out to the lights. I had one time when I had to use my hazzards and then realized I didn't have a turn signal working right after that. I remembered that a bunch of dust had collected around the switch on top of the column and it looked like when I pushed it down all that dust got pushed into it. I was able to fix/clean it by cycling/pushing the button a couple of times on/off and it worked for another 10 years.

As for the radio, not sure.

 

[ttocs]

which fuses did you check?

 

[07GtS197]

I thought about that and tried messing with the hazard switch to no avail. I checked all the fuses in the passenger compartment fuel panel. It started raining before I could get to the other one but I don’t think any of the under hood fuses would cause this.

As for the radio it could just be the headunit I guess. I read somewhere online where a guy referenced the ignition switch but I’d think that would interrupt power to the headunit.

 

[ttocs]

the fuses under the hood for the most part feed the fuses in the dash.

 

[07GtS197]

I’ll check once I have time maybe tomorrow. Hopefully it is something stupid like a blown fuse.

 

[cobrajeff96]

By electronic flasher, I didn't mean the pop up switch atop the steering column. There's a bi-stable relay beneath the dash pretty close to the low-current fuse panel. It controls flash rate and pretty much all turn and brake signals go through it (single point of failure). It could've finally given up, but that's just a guess. Easy and cheap to replace though, and in the worst case you just have a spare handy for when it really happens.

 

[07GtS197]

Nevermind, maybe I’m thinking of my 87 or something having two. Anyway I’ll probably try to get another one on Monday. When I got home from work this morning I popped the hood and checked all the fuses, all were good. I gave the bottom of the steering column shroud a swift tap and the audio worked again. I guess I’ll be pulling that apart on Monday too. I’m thinking there are some electrical and maybe vacuum issues. It runs pig rich but idles fine most of the time. There are no driveability issues. But it’s throwing like 10 different codes. Once I get this brake light bs fixed I’ll post the codes and whatnot.

 

[ttocs]

Check for power at the brake switch on the pedal

 

[cobrajeff96]

Sounds like someone was dicking around in the interior of the car at some point, messed up a bunch of shit.

 

[07GtS197]

I’ll check for power on Monday. My multimeter is at my parents house and I work today and tomorrow.

Someone for sure was messing around in there. There was an add a fuse that split. One wire went straight to ground and the other went up the a pillar to under the headliner to find a cat 5 cable… and that’s just some of it.

 

[cobrajeff96]

lol, yikes.

 

[07GtS197]

There are wires under the hood that I don’t know where they go lol. It used to have an amp before I got it too. It’s a bit of a project but that’s why I got it. I’m going to start pulling stuff here soon to try and unfuck this thing lol.

 

[ttocs]

after a career as an installer it would take a LOT to surprise me. It was always funny to have the "everything is hooked up right but it isn't working" dudes that just wanted you to drop everything and help them for free.

 

[Monday]

There is a delicate copper strip in the brake light switch. It can get worn out with age and use, and can "come-off". If the brake switch was the problem, your car wouldn't start at all. So, there's that...

I had to replace my brake light switch once.

When I had no lights and no sigs and hazards blah blah, I had to change out the multi-funxn switch in the steering column... you have my condolences, and good luck with that. U gotta do what U gotta do.

Cheers

 

[07GtS197]

Lol thanks. Like I said I’ll look into it Monday (no pun intended) when I’m free. I’m not too worried about doing the multifunction switch. It can’t be that bad.

Yeah man I can’t believe the crap people do to their cars. My blue 00 gt was even worse. Someone tapped into one of the o2 sensor circuits by the ecu to power I think it was a wideband or something. It screwed up the fuel trims so bad I’m pretty sure it ended up frying that circuit.

 

[07GtS197]

I couldn’t find my meter so I said screw it and just jumped the brake light switch for a second and got nothing. And fuse #41 keeps blowing, which is for the brake lights. The only thing I can think of is the multifunction switch but what are the odds it kicked the bucket overnight? They were working maybe 8 hours beforehand, I don’t get it.

Also I got the radio to work again by messing with the wires. It must be a bad connection. I’ll go in and solder everything when I have time. Ugh.

 

[cobrajeff96]

Is your car manual or auto?

I ask because about a decade ago my car too kept blowing a fuse in the low current panel under the dash. Turns out it was Ford's awesome decision to loom that section of harness RIGHT NEXT to the clutch armature, so every time I pushed in the clutch the linkage would nick the bare copper (it probably took years for this problem to finally present itself) and then the car would have no brake or blinker lights. If that's the case with your car, you can just reroute that section of harness away from the moving part. It could actually be that simple.