dylanu

Please help. 2002 AP1. I swapped my original taillights with JDM taillights, and trunk 3rd brake light. Now all lights work except both tail brake lights and trunk brake light. When brakes are applied with the key in or out of the ignition there are no brake lights at all.

Things I've eliminated:

Pressing the brake while in cruise control still disables cruise control (stops when brake is pressed).
Horn still works.
Replaced the dual filament brake/running light bulbs on each side with brand new bulbs.
All under hood fuses are good.
Checked all fuses... horn, radio, cruise control, and dash lights still work.

What other things I should check?
If the third brake light was unplugged would all the brake lights not work?
Some connectors from the JDM taillights were swapped over but other lights work fine... Would this cause the entire brake light circuit to not work?
How can I check for continuity?

windhund116

Pull rear brake light fuse. Measure resistance across the fuse with a DVM. If high (near infinite) resistance ---> replace fuse. Sometimes fuses look good, but are broken. If zero resistance ---> check wiring.

Using the DVM and check if electricity (voltage DC) is going to the light sockets. If yes ----> bulb issue.

If no electricity ----> prolly connection issues (wiring or connectors). Go back to each connector and check appropriate connection for voltage. Keep going back towards the pedal, checking --- until you find the point where you get electricity. Then, you'll know where the bad contact area is located.

Good luck!

SMG1990

I had a similar problem, with me it was the brake light sensor/switch on the brake pedal, I removed it, took it apart and cleaned it to remove the carbon build up and they have been fine ever since.

If you do this just make sure you are careful so you dont lose the spring that is in it.