Brake lights broke?, lighs say no lights. Options

[bigredcelica]

Hi all,

On my Celica GT I have an irritating problem. I have an indicator light on the dash that resembles a car with semi circles emiting from the rear corners of the car. This light comes on when the brakes are applied. A friend of mine said he had this in his car and it was an indicator that the break light set had a blown bulb. Needless to say all bulbs were correct and working, as I am here asking the question.

I have seen suggestions about break fluid and break pads. My rear pads were recently changed (disc), my fluid was topped up and bled and my front discs are still healthy but I had this indicator before these changes. The emergency break has its own indicator light and this works OK.

Any thoughts?

[jontechie]

Yeah, thats the warning light for your brake light bulbs. If the bulbs blow or
go high resistance the dash indicator comes on immediately you press the brakes.
Don't be fooled if the lights appear to be working.The bulb has two separate
elements, one element used as a parking light. If the bulb is pinned in the wrong
way the wrong element will be across the brake fail circuit. Take both bulbs out
and make sure they are in the correct way round. The socket ideally shouldn't
allow the bulb to be placed the wrong way round but its not fool proof.

[bigredcelica]

Hi,

I checked the bulbs and were placed in the holder correctly. They also work for both elements, i.e., both the break light and the parking light work. You suggest that they may still work but come back as a high resistance. Is this as either a brake or a parking light or both? I will be trying to replace each bulb with a new one today to see which may be at fault. SHould this not work have you any other thoughts?

[jontechie]

just speaking from my experience. The first time I replaced the brake light bulb
the dash warning stayed on although both bulb elements were working. I noticed
that the replaced brake light bulb was dimmer than the other brake light. On pulling
it out I found that it was possible to place the bulb in the wrong way round and that
was why the brake light was dimmer.The wrong element was in the the brake
light circuit and because it was pulling less current the warning sensor thought
it was going high or open circuit.Once I turned the bulb the other way the dash
warning disappeared. This may be your problem, if it doesn't work there may
be probs elsewhere. Good luck anyways,

Jon