step on brake...dash lights come on!

[mack]

i just got done with looking at 26 pages, and nothing.
when the headlights off, i hit the brakes and the dashlights come on, with the headlights on, the taillights a very bright, i'm guessing a ground, but where? i don't know where to start!
i did look at the brake light switch for broken wires, but where do i go from there?

 

[Kuasimodem]

Check your grounds at the tail lights, that's most likely where the problem is. Try connecting a jumper from the tail light ground to the chassis. If it works, make a permanent connection.

 

[GreenbeltXJ]

mine did the same thing, dash lights and parking lights cam on when brakes were applyed and head lights were off, when the head lights were on the tale lights whould be dull and whould do nothing when brakes were on. it took me a wile but i found a small piece of metal under the brake light bulb and that was gounding it out, i removed it and everything was fine.

 

[mack]

can you tell me where the ground is for the taillights?

 

[GreenbeltXJ]

you know the little metal piece on the bottom of a light bulb, thats what fell off of another bulb when it was replaced, so when the new one was put in that piece was touching the outer metal causing the ground to be all jacked up and messing with the other lights.

 

[mack]

all the bulbs are fine.

 

[fatwreck]

I think I would start by unplugging your tail lights and see if the problem is still there. If it is, then you can eliminate those. If it isn't, then plug one in at a time and go from there.

This is going to be a process of elimination to figure it out.....

Edit: I know you said the bulbs are fine, but unplug the entire assembly and then see what's up.

 

[nylyon]

Do you have trailer wiring? Sometimes the 7-way plug gets all junked up and can short 2 poles together. Just another place to look!

 

[fatwreck]

He has these tail lights, but they shouldn't require a trailer harness....although that doesn't mean he doesn't have one in addition to them.

 

[mack]

checked all the taillights, nothing.
i do have a trailer harness, it looks factory, it goes into the lower left 1/4.

 

[littlebluexj]

have you smelt buring plastic lately.mine would just do many diffrent things wrong for a long time pull the gauges off and look for melted wires search the entire jeep for melted wires my jeep has had the entire jeep rewier now it took a month and to much money but i got rid of a bunch of usless jeep crap.

 

[nylyon]

Do they do it when you put on a directional signal, hazards or just the brake?

 

[fatwreck]

checked all the taillights, nothing.
i do have a trailer harness, it looks factory, it goes into the lower left 1/4.

I know you said you checked the lights....and the lights themselves are probably fine, but have you unplugged all of them at the same time and then driven the vehicle around the block to see what's up? Then...come back home and put your tail lights on one side at a time....rinse/repeat.

 

[mack]

nope, just when i hit the brakes, i never smelt buring, what ever is it, it make me lose XM signal too.
i really thinks is a ground....but where??

Do they do it when you put on a directional signal, hazards or just the brake?

 

[RTicUL8]

I had the same problem.
Mack said that he fixed his problem when he found a defective LED.

When I stepped on the brakes, the parking lights would come on – I also saw the dash lights come on.

I checked all fuses…good.
I checked all my bulbs – none were bad.
I cleaned all the connectors and found no visible damage.

My luck changed when it rained.
I heard a hissing sound by the driver’s side brake light.

What I found was that the trailer wiring harness – stuffed behind the plastic bumper end-cap was rubbing against a piece of metal and causing the short. I taped off the cable (I’ll replace it later) and the problem went away.


.

 

[Jess]

My ground (tail lights...not sure if same for brake lights) was on the driver side fender well halfway between the windshield and the airbox. I found out when I tried to use the ground for my bumper lights.....but the tail lights stayed on all the time.