Johnny, should have mentioned that my fronts are also dual filament like the rears. Combination turn signal and parking lights, all with their own individual verified ground wires.
Well that’s missing some info, like a headlight switch feed . Looking at that schematic, there’s just 2 ways for power into the TS switch. 1 thru a closed brake switch or 2 thru the flasher. If the brake switch is open and the flasher isn’t seeing a load how’s the switch getting power to send off to the brake lights?
Lets sort this out step by step. All too many people can't see the steps. Brake lights that come on by themselves without the pedal being pushed when you turn the igniton on but work normally when the ignition is off. Tail lights don't come on at that time by themselves = no issue there. Turn lights on the front don't come on with the brake lights eliminating the 4 way swith. Lights don't flash when this happens but the flasher is hooked to the ignition switch. This means that the issue is not on the turn signal switch side of the flasher in the flasher circuit. it is between the flasher and the ignition switch. This means as I said in post 27 there is a 99.9 chance that the issue is that the issue is that the wire between the ign switch and the flasher is coming into contact with the wire between the brake light switch and the turn signal switch. My guess is that if you unplug the wire from the ignition switch to the flasher at the flasher and unplug the hot wire to the brake light switch and turn the key on you will still have the same issue. You have to trace those wires. The brake light wire should have no other wire connected to it between the brake light switch and the turn signal switch.
Mr48chev, thanks for your breakdown. There is no wire between the drop column ignition switch and the flasher. The wires to the flasher are P pilot light, L load, X fused power from battery. Both P and L come from the Signal Stat turn signal switch. X comes from the battery. There are two wires at the ignition switch, one comes from pin 86 on my ignition relay and the other goes to ground. And yes, the brake light wire has no other wire connected to it between the brake light switch and the turn signal switch. Hotrodmyk, the brake switch works perfectly when the ignition toggle is in the off position. It only activates when the toggle is in the on position.
The big clue is what works when. You're saying that all lights work with the key off; that is wrong. With the key off, only the headlights, taillights, brake lights and emergency flashers should work, NOT the turns. The turns should only work with the key ON, I suspect the power feeds are misconnected. I'll also note here that if your switch has an emergency flasher function, the above diagram is wrong. The shown diagram is for a turns/brake-only switch, no emergency flashers. The flashers should have their own dedicated power wire AND flasher. Another thing is guys get hung up on wire colors when making connections. I learned a long time ago not to trust those for various reasons. What you need to do when you run into stuff like this is physically identify each wire and verify that it goes where you think it goes AND does what it's supposed to do. The procedure for doing this is here.... You will need an ohmmeter. Turn Signal Wiring How-to | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com) Do the tests IN ORDER with the switch DISCONNECTED from the harness and this will positively identify each wire. This will also test the switch for proper operation. If the switch has a built-in indicator light, remove the lamp while testing to prevent backfeeds into other circuits.
Try isolating the brake light switch with power from the battery only, with no connection to the 900 Series switch. Then wire from the brake light switch to the "high" filament rear tails. The turn signal wires would then share the connection to the "high" filaments. I don't know if that would back feed into the 900 series switch and cause another problem. Momma said I's clever but I's not smart.
I checked both brake wires from the Signal Stat switch with a test light. With ignition toggle “OFF” both wires show no power. With toggle “ON” both wires light up test light. Also tested turn signal wire from wiring harness fuse box labeled “Brake Switch”. It lights up test light in both on and off positions of the ignition switch.
52hardtop, if you mean “As per” the diagram, then I don’t know. The diagram at the beginning of this post is from the Signal Stat 900 manufacturer, I just followed their instructions.
Which wire is hot going into that TS switch ? you might have to disconnect 1 at a time or all of them to find it.
Using the test light, the wire from the brake switch to the Signal Stat lights up with the ignition on. The wire yellow (load) from the flasher to the Signal Stat lights very dimly.
I believe you have found the culprit. The wire between the brake switch and the Signal Stat should be dead ignition on or off unless you press on the brakes. Now you just have to find out why. Try pushing in on the 4 way switch with the ignition on and see if the brake lights go out. I'm assuming you pull the switch out to turn on the 4 ways. I've had some 4 way setups that don't always return all the way without a little help. Have you tried disconnecting the flasher to see if that turns out the brake lights? If you followed the diagram, that's the only place the Signal Stat switch gets power (other than the brake light switch).
With the ignition on and the brake lights lit up I removed the flasher and the brake lights stayed on. With the ignition on if you use either turn signal the brake light on the other side stays on. I couldn’t see if the flashers turned off the brake lights because these are dual filament bulbs and with the brightness I couldn’t tell. But because of the reaction with either turn signal on I doubt the brake lights go off with the flashers on.
The brake lights and emergency flashers should be on the same filament. The taillights should be on the dimmer filament by themselves. And the brake lights are supposed to interrupt the flashing of the flashers.
Your brake switch shoul The brake switch has 2 posts. One side is +12 volts from the battery. The other side goes to TS switch. The wire between the brake switch and TS switch shouldn’t be hot unless brake switch is closed, and power is to the brake switch.
I found part of my problem. I had joined the brake switch wire from the TS to the "Brake Switch" wire from the wiring harness and connected them to one of the brake switch posts. I also had connected the "Brake Switch Power" wire from the harness to the other brake switch post. When I removed the TS wire from the "Brake Switch" wire the brake lights went out. Now I just have to figure out where the TS brake switch wire really goes.
Attach the brake switch power (orange) wire to one side of the brake switch, attach the gray/black from turn signal switch to other terminal. Ignore the brake switch (white) wire, it goes to turn signal switch connector supplied with the harness which I assume you're not using.
24riverview I wired up as you described and bingo, everything worked as it should. For anyone encountering this problem with 2 brake switch wires from your harness and 1 from your turn signal switch marked "Brake Switch" do as 24riverview advised; connect the 'brake switch power' wire from your cars harness to one side of the brake switch and the 'brake switch' wire from your turn signal switch to the other side of the brake switch. Ignore the other wire from the harness which in my case is marked 'brake switch' and you should be good to go. My mistake was wiring the 'brake switch power' wire from the harness to the same pin on the brake switch as the Signal Stat 900 turn signal 'brake switch' wire thereby creating a constant hot circuit. I want to thank everyone who responded to this thread, I appreciate all the advice and help that was offered. Tony
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