A friend of mine just bought a nice '86 camaro SC. Yesterday while looking at it I noticed that when he depresses the brake pedal, the front parking lights come on and then go back off when he takes his foot off the pedal. WTH would cause that? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Jamie

 

3 things come to mind in order of most likely, the hazard flasher relay is missing/bad and hazard lights are turned on, shorted tail light bulbs, or possibly has a bad turn signal switch.

 

Or the PO did a hack job on the wiring and just tapped into the parking light circuit cause the brake lights were not coming on with the pedal being pushed. Hopefully that's not the case though cause then there is no telling what else is screwed up.

 

Hmmm. All the lights and blinkers work correctly, although I don't know about the flashers. Will check that. So, if the flasher relay is missing/bad, It would cause the front parking lights (including side marker lights) to come on with the brake pedal being pushed? Thanks for the reply.

 

Yeah, IDK. Everything on the car is Really nice, it was being restored....new paint w/ghost flames, all new weatherstripping, all new interior. The engine compartment is pretty clean as for wiring. The only modification there is a carb swap. It's hard to say what they might have done under the dash though... Thanks for the reply too.

 

when someone's' car has this problem, most people will think its the parking lights in the front that are coming on and not the turn signal lights.
mentioning the side markers coming on proves it is in fact the parking lights.
so no, a flasher problem wouldn't cause the actual parking lights to come on.

in this case, i would pull all the tail light bulbs and see if the parking lights still come on with the brake petal.
if they do, then i would start looking for other things like shorted sockets or wiring in the back as that would be the most likely area and then work forward from there.

85iroc mentioned a hack job on the wiring, that is a possibility, and like he also said, there is no telling what else could be screwed up
mice seem to like the taste of wiring insulation, and i've seen where people would do things they shouldn't have because of it.

 

Thanks again for the reply. I will start with the tail light bulbs and see what happens. So If I pull all the bulbs and the lights don't come on in the front, what would that mean? All the lights in the back function normal right now. Sorry for the dumb question, but why would the lights in the back affect the parking lights in the front? They on the same circuit? Just trying to wrap my head around the thinking here.

 

On my car the side markers flash with the turn signals, so wouldn't that indicate that it is the turn signals and not the parking lights?

 

Let me ask a couple questions to get some more info.

When you press the brake pedal do the brake lights come on like they should?

If you turn on the lights with the dash switch do all of the lights, headlights, tail lights, and side markers comne on as they should?

If you turn on the hazard switch do the lights flash like they should?

Let's troubleshoot the correct problem which I think has not yet been fully determined. Is there a problem with the brake pedal switch or is there a problem with the front parking lights. I can see a problem could exist with the hazards since the hazards stop flashing when the brake pedal is depressed. I don't have a battery in my Camaro right now so I cannot verify this but I think that is the way it works. If I'm wrong my bad.

 

Yes, the brake lights works as they should as well as all the other lights when the headlight switch is on. I'm not sure on the hazard lights. I'll ask him to check that.

 

sometimes a bulb can short out internally where one of the filaments touches the other but neither filament is burned out.
usually this will cause both brake and parking lights to come on by turning either set on. but not always.
occasionally a filament will burn out and end up making contact with the other one.
when it burns out, depending on which end of the filament makes contact, one set of the lights may appear to work normally but using the other lights causes both filaments to turn on.
it can do the same if the filaments touch without being burned out.

(lets see if i get this right) if the brake light filament burned out on the ground side leg in the bulb and is making contact with the hot side of the parking light filament, the park lights work fine. hitting the brakes lights puts power to the park light circuit and all the park lights turn on.



henryd3, the side marker lights are parking lights, but because of how the system is wired, they can also flash. like when you have a parking light on the front thats burned out and makes the turn indicator in the dash glow when you turn on the parking lights.
a parking light burned out in the back won't cause the dash turn indicator to come on.

i've seen blubs where the legs inside the bulbs where the filaments are conected to had managed to make contact and cause some strange things.
a marker light damaged like that will pop the parking light fuse, but not necessarily right away.

 

i forgot to mention, yes the front side marker lights do flash with the turn signal, until you turn the park lights on and then the front side marker lights flash opposite of the turn signal.

 

Check the simple stuff first, did some goof install the brake light bulbs in wrong, 1157 bulbs have offset pins. Seen people force them in backwards & making improper contact in the socket sometimes back feeding the system-simple fix.

 

I hooked up my battery just to see how mine flash, maybe that will help.

When hazards on, rear amber lamp, front side marker, and front turn signal flash in unison. When brake pedal depressed, rear red light brake lights come on. Hazards continue to flash as normal.

If the front park lamps come on when the brake pedal is depressed, then the front park lamps must be connected to the brake pedal circuit. Some how either cross wired, bad connection, or purposely wired that way. Dam this is a good one.

Here are wiring diagrams out the shop manual.

 

humm, i thought it was 88 or 89 when GM put the amber turn signal lights in the back on the thirdgens, looks like they've always been like that
so that definitely rules out a problem with the turn signals/hazards.

 

I told my friend what you guys have suggested to look at. IDK if he'll get to look at it before this weekend. If not, I'll help him look at it this weekend. Thanks for all the input so far. Will keep you updated on what we do or do not find.

 

I'm going to guess that the front park lights are connected to the brake light circuit only because when the brake pedal is depressed the front park lights go on. If the rear brake lights come on as normal when the brake pedal is depressed, then to me, that circuit is good. If this is the case, why would some one hook up the fronts to the brake circuit?

 

with the brake lights the same bulbs as the rear parking lights, you can't tell if the rear parking lights are coming on too unless you pull the bulbs out of the housing and watch to see if both elements come on when someone hits the brake petal.

something else, check to see if its had a trailer light connector put on it.

 

You mentioned the car has been recently repainted...Check your grounds!!! this is a common problem if the wiring was removed from the car while painted