Parking lights turn on with brake?

[_brad_]

Hey all,

1997 Ranger 2.3L

I'm having a very weird problem. When ever I press the brake, my parking lights and back bed light turn on along with the brake lights. I have checked most all fuses and all are good. I'm thinking its a short somewhere but don't know where to start.

Any pointers?

Thank you!

 

[Black'03LevelII]

my first guess would be in the rear bed harness, up under the rear bumper on the drivers side, there should be a plug which will disconnect the tail lights. I would start with unplugging that and see if the cab light still comes on, if not you problems in that rear harness some. it's a starting point so hopefully this helps.

if the problem does go away with that harness out, check the sockets for the tails lights on both sides one of them may have a problem, or it could be the bulb itself.

good luck bud.

 

[_brad_]

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I'm gunna check it out tomorrow and post what I find.

 

[BlaineM]

Sounds like a bad ground. On your 97 the brake lights and rear parking lights all go through the same ground. When you apply the brakes, if the current is not allowed to go to ground after it goes through the bulb, it will go backwards through the park lights and find ground where the front park lights ground. If this happens the fuse will not blow because the current is actually being distributed across more resistors (bulbs). All of the lights effected may even burn a little dimmer.

Check for a broken connection in the rear ground wire(black). Use a multimeter (ohms meter) and check for continuity between each brake light bulb socket (black wire) and a good ground. You may find that either or both have no contiuity. Trace the black wire back toward the common ground until you find the interuption. My wiring diagram shows the common ground for the rear lights to be behind the "left cowl panel".

Good luck and have fun!