So I sold my Honda thinking it would be cool to make my 87 IROC my daily driver, now the damn thing seem to be falling apart.

Most recently the brake lights stay on and kill the battery. The brake lights on the hatch work like they should(only come on when the pedal is pressed), but its the main brake lights that wont go off. They stay on all the time. I have to disconnect the battery when I park. The rest of the lights work as they should.

My first thought would be the switch on the brake pedal. But if that were the case wouldn't it cause the lights on the hatch to stay on too? Is there a dual stage switch, or something else that might cause the brake lights to stay on?

Thanks guys.

 

What happens when you use your turn signals or hazard lights? Any change?
I would check the ground spot in the back before checking other items.

 

The flashers and turn signals all work fine. I'll look into the grounds. I do have an amp installed in the trunk; perhaps the ground has failed, but I think it had its own ground if I remember right.

Update: Went to hook up the battery this morning to go to work, and the brake lights were not on. When I started the engine the car didn't want to stay running. I had to drop it into neutral and feather the gas to keep it running anytime I was stopping/stopped.

Why does my car hate me?

 

Yup, the rear lights have their own ground spot.

If you suspect your amp, disconnect its wires on the amp side and on the battery side.

For now I would think that your car keeps dying because it is in learn mode and you've probably never cleaned any intake passages. This, plus the carbon buildup in those passages, can cause such behavior. Used to have it after every disconnect in my previous V6 Firebird (the V6s are more susceptible to that).

I recall someone having a similar issue on here some time ago...
think he swapped the head unit before the issue appeared. May be another thing to try and doesn't take long to disconnect it. Almost everthing can happen when there's a bad connection in the center pod.

 

Re brake lights - it's not gonna be a bad ground; in that case the lights wouldn't work at all. They're getting full-time power when they shouldn't.

Can only really be the brake switch. The main brake lights and third brake light have seperate wires, and I think I have read may have seperate switches (mine was hacked up when I bought it, unsure how the factory had it). Get under the dash and probe them.

Continually disconnecting your batt might be confusing the ecm.

 

 

That makes sence. I didnt think the computer in this car was that "smart."

When I got to work I put the car on the charger for a while because the battery had died due to the tail lights. Once the battery was charged everything seems ok. For now,...

I plan on pulling the engine in a week so I'll have a chance to clean out the intake and throtle body.

Thanks for the help guys!!