brake light problems

[Oxygen]

this happened to me about 2 years ago also, none of my brake lights work, even the 3rd one, parking lights work fine.. just no brake lights... i'm assuming it is the switch? any special fuse i should check also? i took a picture of it, i noticed a green wire with an orange stripe has been cut, not too sure if that has anything to do with it, but like i said, i'm not too sure..

 

[Oxygen]

couple more pictures..

 

[Cobraguy]

What the hell?? Who cobbled up your brake switch wiring like that??

A 99 diagram shows a green with red stripe wire as supplying power to the switch. It comes from fuse 13 in the interior fuse panel. Then the signal from the BOO switch goes to a splice and is distributed to the many systems in the car that need it. If you had no signal at all, I would think you should be getting some other problems...like ABS and transmission errors as they need a brake signal. If you have a message center, it could possibly be the Lamp Out Module. If you don't, then about all it can be is wiring. With the mess I see there, that is a very real possibility. Get your meter out!

 

[Oxygen]

well, i had the viper alarm installed about 3 years ago, and never had any problems since the other day.. the green wire with the red stripe looks like it was a smooth cut, not cut due to rubbing a piece of metal or something..

what should i try? it sucks because it is such a pain in the ass working under there, there is no room at all and no slack on the wires..

 

[Oxygen]

and also there is another green wire i noticed right next to the green wire with the red stripe, what is that wire?

 

[Oxygen]

now my truck won't go out of park now

 

[Cobraguy]

That's the interlock. You have a serious wiring problem. something has come apart. You need to get to the alarm shop and see if they can figure out what's gone on in there.

 

[budwich]

your "happened two years ago"... what did you do then to address the problem???? what did you do now?

 

[Oxygen]

thats the problem, the company "tweeter" who installed the alarm has now gone out of business for good... so now i am stuck with the problem, it looks like i will be having it towed to ford tomorrow... is there anyway to turn off the interlock? or does anyone have a wire diagram for it?

 

[budwich]

It's unlikely to be an alarm problem... its most likely a problem with the brake switch especially since that the area that you have been "playing" with.

 

[Oxygen]

alright well i figured out a way to bypass it for now so i can at least drive it to get it fixed.. thanks for the help guys! and ya, it def is an alarm problem, all the wires are getting disconnected probably from their age etc

 

[TheJackal]

ha ha looks like the install my dad did... The control unit for my alarm was visible right there under the dash I fixed that issue and rewired part of the system about a year and a half ago now. Just need to get that battery backup siren now. I'll probably replace the whole thing with a CodeAlarm system in the next couple of years.

It just goes to show, you never know what you're going to get from these "professional" installers at those big-box places...

 

[Oxygen]

well i brought it to a local video/audio place and they told me i needed a new brake switch harness that plugs into the actual switch, but of course they don't sell the harness by itself, you have to buy the whole switch .. and i bought the switch right from my local ford dealership and brought the part back to them and they said that they cannot install the new switch because there are 5 wires in the harness and the new one has only 2 wires... ahhh

 

[Oxygen]

its finally fixed.. cost $67 to fix and thats with an oil change