I have a 86 Camaro and when I press the brake the Defroster light switch orange light comes on and the brake lights in the tail lamps stay on until I turn the fog light switch off. the 3rd brake light does not work at all. When I turn the defroster on the brake lights come on and stay on. Any onw seen this before.

 

Solved

 

I have an ‘86 too. Check the wires that connect to the hatch struts at the bottom. If one side comes off it does that. If the other side is off the defrost button won’t turn off.

 

I did find a broken wire off the right side hatch strut. I temporally tape a wire to it but it was still doing the same thing. I may have to replace the strut.

 

Thanks for the info, I found the problem, on the left side of the hatch there is 2 connectors some one put them switched. I switched them back and every thing works on now.

 

I have this exact same issue, since 1992... my 86 camaro sport coupe will knock the passenger side defrost wire connector off. I remember as a kid my job was to reconnect it. Since inheriting the car I’ve fiddled with it constantly to try and get it to stay connected. Zip tie it shall be then.

But today I pulled it out of the garage, and noticed that the rear brake lights (including the third brake light) are on. Seems with little voltage (ie they seem dim). At the same time the defrost wire is loose.

will this disappear by reconnecting the defrost plug? Is it like a back feed from the defrost?

Cheers.

 

+1 more of us with this issue on my 86 Berlinetta. My symptoms are that the rear defrost turns on when applying the brake, at least the indicator light on the on/off switch comes on, and the third brake light works backwards - on when not braking and off when pressing the brake. Does anyone have a diagram of this circuit?

 

Fixed - just a matter of making sure the connections on the rear hatch struts were secure. But still very strange behavior - I would be really interested to see the diagram.

 

Wow old post, been having this issue for a little while as well. Sure enough i checked and my right side strut connector was no connected (the little soldered piece broke off) Unplugging both sides seemed to fix the defrost light turning on, guess I'll have no defrost until i fix the tab