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1991 cx, and first my guage cluster stoped lighting and only lighting when the brakes are pressed. then my temperature *****. then my stereo, ad now my rear drl only workwhen my brakes are pressed. this all happened one after another in the span of a week. does anyone even have the slightest clue as to what it could be?

 
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Ive been trying to help him with this problem, and the only thing I can think of is a short to power. Its been getting progressively worse over the last couple weeks. It started with the loss of dash lights, then radio power, and now is even affecting the exterior lights.
The confusing part is that everything goes back to normal when the brakes are depressed. As soon as the brake pedal is pressed all of the lights illuminate.

Could this be caused by an electrical component of the brake system?
If so, can this be bypassed to test this theory?

Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you

 
Rep Power: 518

How many and which lights are "all"?

Have you observed all of the exterior lights, do they all function? By all, I mean every last one. Too many people can look at a set of brake lights and say "YUP YOU GOT EM" when there is 3 on the left and 1 on the right and none in the center.... Not kidding one bit.

Do they all come on at full/proper brightness, or are they still dimmer than they would normally be?

If they come on bright, This part alone sounds like what can happen when an 1156 bulb gets stuck in an 1157 socket. This bridges the brake power to the park light power within whichever socket holds the incorrect bulb.

If they come on dim, then I might be testing for ground issues.


The loss of the other lights......Fuses first....I would start with a wiring diagram and a test light or voltmeter.
I'd be checking.....#1 is to figure out what is missing...It's gotta be missing either powers or grounds from the lights that don't work. It won't be both most of the time.

I'd probably do any other testing at the headlight switch connector since most of the light wiring can be accessed and tested at that point pretty easy. Powers, I can use jumpers to manually turn on lights at that connector, etc.