"Stop Lamp" light on dash coming on

[wildturkey]

1989 RS leggy (BC5)..........whenever I turn on the headlights or spotlights I get this "stop lamp" sign lighting up in the top left hand side of the speedo dash. after 10 seconds or so it goes away. It started doing it at around the same time as one of my spotties started playing up so I replaced the bulbs in them and they are all sweet now.....but this stop lamp light still comes on when i turn either the spotties or the headlights on. Does any1 know what this is?

[dubbedup]

blown rear brake bulb/short circuit or low fluid in your brake master cylinder.

[wildturkey]

 dubbedup said:

blown rear brake bulb/short circuit or low fluid in your brake master cylinder.

cheers I'll check it out

[BC5RA]

Get somebody to stand behind you and see if your brake light's activate.

Did this start happening after your fixed your brake issue?

[wildturkey]

 BC5RA said:

Get somebody to stand behind you and see if your brake light's activate.

Did this start happening after your fixed your brake issue?

nah it was happening way before the brake prob but yeah I'll check out the brake lights for sure.

[Guest keltik]

On my old BC it was caused by someone wiring up the center stop lamp wrong

[wildturkey]

 keltik said:

On my old BC it was caused by someone wiring up the center stop lamp wrong

ah ok if I have no joy with the more simpler fixes I'll look at the wiring but it hasn't been rewired in any way since I've had it

[Guest keltik]

yeah on mine they had cut into the power feed for one of the brake lights and not soldered the connection or wrapped it so over time it corroded and intermittently tripped the blown bulb warning light

[DRFVDR]

u dont have any water leaks around the rear lights do you

have seen the little warning box full of water

[wildturkey]

 DRFVDR said:

u dont have any water leaks around the rear lights do you

have seen the little warning box full of water

what warning box bro?

[DRFVDR]

AFAIK in one of the rear combination lights there is a wee blackbox which measures the resistance in the brake light circuit and then puts the light up in the dash

[wildturkey]

 DRFVDR said:

AFAIK in one of the rear combination lights there is a wee blackbox which measures the resistance in the brake light circuit and then puts the light up in the dash

i check it out cheers

[wildturkey]

 keltik said:

yeah on mine they had cut into the power feed for one of the brake lights and not soldered the connection or wrapped it so over time it corroded and intermittently tripped the blown bulb warning light

when i put my foot on the brakes......the stop lamp light goes out

[wildturkey]

just an update on this one..........the prob seems related to the wiring in the braking cause when it comes on and I put my foot on the brake.....it disappears again

[DRFVDR]

it could be a normal taillight blown

I know that the parents calais has a wee light like this that when it is a blown stop light it only comes on when u press brake pedal....

but when it is a taillight it come on when the lights are turned on and goes out when brake pedal depressed...

next time it comes on stop and have a look at your taillights

[Guest boostin]

Check your brake light bulbs. Actually pull them out, don't just get someone to see if they work from behind. I've had a Legacy with a blown bulb and the filament dropped onto the tail lamp filament, and every time you put your foot on the brake the dash backlights would come on. We were scratching our heads for a while there....

[Guest keltik]

^ Have also seen this

[Guest]

 boostin said:

Check your brake light bulbs. Actually pull them out, don't just get someone to see if they work from behind. I've had a Legacy with a blown bulb and the filament dropped onto the tail lamp filament, and every time you put your foot on the brake the dash backlights would come on. We were scratching our heads for a while there....

I've got the same problem with my GC8 Rex, I checked the bulbs and swapped them round but the dash lights still come on when I brake.

Maybe I have a short somewhere? how do I check that???

[Guest boostin]

It might be auto sparky time....

[Guest]

Yeah I was dreading that. The hole in my pocket gets bigger.

[DRFVDR]

I would replace the bulbs as swapping them around wont do much

I doubt u will have a short but just check that the unit in the boot is not getting wet

[Guest]

I had a brand new bulb sitting around, which I put in and tested but still not working. Then I thought maybe both bulbs are blown. I had some old bulbs sitting in a workshop drawer which I started swapping around, but to no avail. I think I will buy another new bulb and go from there....

[Guest keltik]

Depending on what the center stop light is wired into - ive seen that cause stop lamp issues too.

[G-unit]

mine came on other night when i removed the blown bulb from rear, new bulb, no stop lamp