Civic-EG.com Forum 3.3.1

- Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:09 am #316123 I have a 92 civic si. About a month ago I was told that my driver side brake light wasnt working. I was confused because I just changed the bulb. When I got home I checked out what was going on. The brake light works when the head lights were off. Then when you turned the headlights on the running lights would work but as soon as you pushed on the brake the driver side brake light (on the outside) would shut off all together. My friend had a brake light harness for the driver side (but the turn signal one didnt work) so i spliced the two together to get it working. I checked it all out and it seemed like it worked.

About 2 weeks later someone told me that the light on my passenger side (the one on the hatch) isn't working. And then about a week after that the outside passenger brake light stopped working. But again, all of the running lights work (except the hatch one on the passenger). Now the driver side hatch brake light is not working.

So i thought it might be the fuse, and the person that owned it before me put the wrong fuse in (suppose to be 10A, he had a 20A in there). So i took it out completely, just to see what would happen. And the same thing is happening, the driver side brake light work, while the rest dont.. So the side that I spliced together is the only one working at this point (besides the brake light on top of the hatch).

I have no idea what is going on with this. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Could it be because I spliced the driver side brake light?

Thanks in advanced for any help.

- Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:27 am #316124 In case that didn't make sense, I took pictures of whats going on.

Lights off, pushing brakes:


Lights on, no brakes:


Lights on, brakes on:



Also, I noticed that when the lights are on, there is a humming noise coming from the fuse box..

[suspendedHatch]

- Fri Sep 21, 2012 5:02 am #316152 This is difficult to follow. I'd have to see what you did to the wiring. What I suggest is you go to the junkyard and get an unmolested harness and plug it in. Also, looks like your pass side inner bulb is dead. Grab some bulbs while you're getting the harness and fix that first.

The "humming" is very troubling. It also worries me that there was an overrated fuse in there. That could have caused the wiring to be damaged anywhere between the fuse box and the rear light harnesses.

Get a $15 multimeter from sears, set it to 20vDC, put the negative probe to chassis ground, and stick the red probe into an empty bulb socket in turn. It should show 12v when the light is supposed to be on. You'll have to discern the parking light bulbs from the brake lights.

- Fri Sep 21, 2012 5:05 pm #316185 Alright, so I did what you said. This is kind of messed up. At first when I turned on the lights, All running lights were working. (including the passenger one on the hatch). So i took the readings.

For the running lights, the inside driver side was 11 volts, and the inside passenger side was 10 volts. The outside driver was 12 volts and the outside pass was 11 volts.

For the brake lights it was: passenger 13 volts, and driver was almost 14 volts.

Now what happens next is weird and idk what happened. But right after i took the measurements, the running lights stopped working (all of them), as well as the brake lights.

What the hell!

I noticed something too, that when the running lights and brake lights stopped working, the humming from the fuse box went away as well. I am going to get fuses later and put the right fuse in there and see what happens.

- Fri Sep 21, 2012 5:06 pm #316186 Oh, and the bulb for the pass, on the inside, was not blown. It was working when i first turned the lights on.

- Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:15 pm #316196 Went to switch the fuse out, and noticed that the 20 amp fuse that was in there blew while i was testing the voltage. So i replaced it with the correct fuse.

Now the running lights are working, still no luck on the brake lights (both sides)

- Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:28 pm #318466 Okay, so i fixed the brake light problem. I didnt realize there was another fuse for the brake lights under the hood. Swapped that out and now that problem is fixed. But there is still a buzzing noise coming from my fuse box under the dash. its coming from fuse number 19 (which is taillight fuse that had the wrong amp fuse in it.) Anyone knows what would cause this..

Also, now my blinker doesnt light up when the head lights are on.. but the blinker does work.

- Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:40 pm #318471 could be wires touching somewhere, by sockets, or behind fusebox..
or a short on the chasis, ground... wierd that they dont turn on with head lights but when heads are off they work?

1988 civic sedan - granny car MPG'S http://civic-eg.com/viewtopic.php?t=27768

1994 civic hatch - BECAZ RACEKAR http://civic-eg.com/viewtopic.php?t=27511

[teal_dx]

- Tue Oct 23, 2012 5:04 pm #318473 Yeah it sounds like there is a short in the wiring somewhere. I'd start by following the wire and looking for anywhere it may have been cut, spliced or worn through.

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- Wed Oct 24, 2012 2:02 am #318520

could be wires touching somewhere, by sockets, or behind fusebox..
or a short on the chasis, ground... wierd that they dont turn on with head lights but when heads are off they work?

Thats how it was working.. but they work now? I dont think it was becasue the fuse was blown cause the horn worked. But when the horn stopped working i checked the other fuse, and it started working again.

Ill check the wires when I can, in the middle of doing body work, painting and putting new coils on.

thanks for the help guys!