Brake light problem
 

My friend was behind me in my S2000 and remarked how my brake lights were flickering when i was braking and so when i got back to mine we had a test and got him to brake for me so i could see. It's a bit of an odd problem because when i brake sometimes it works fine and all 3 brake lights light up fine but then other times its just the lights that light up when the headlights have been turned on light up (which are pretty dim, especially in bright sunlight).

Does anyone have any ideas? i didn't think it would be a fuse because if it was then the lights would not come on at all.

I'm not even sure what it could be?

:scratch: just go through that again,

dodgy earth connection

or faulty switch

Sorry i may not have explained myself. When i brake, my brake lights don't activate (my brakes work fine) but just the rear side lights come on. Does that make more sense?

How can i check the earth?

My previous S2k, the brake light switch under the actual brake pedal failed and stopped the lights showing altogether.

You can unscrew the nut that holds it in and it pops out pretty easily, I then dismantled mine and cleaned the contacts with some contact cleaner spray and a wirebrush - put it back together and this fixed it.

Worth a try as it's not difficult to do :)

Just found a guide here:
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/842...xed-with-pics/

Even more simple than that - have a look inside the wiring shroud that clips to the left boot hinge :)

Thanks for that, more and more it sounds like a faulty switch after reading that link you posted. I might have to give that a go after i get back from Japfest this weekend.

What do i look for? the lights still light up ocasionally. Its just tempremental!

You're looking for a break in a wire around the hinge point i'd suspect. Just have a look at where the wire does the most bending, you may need to test continuity with a circuit tester to find the problem one.

Does your remote boot unlock button fail to work occasionally too?

No the remote boot unlock works all the time. Its an 07 plate car so i would hope that the wires don't have wear and tear yet :p

I bet the indicators make Xmas tree effects! remember those shockingly crap Ford Escort Erikas?

It sounds like a traditional arse circuit caused by high resistance in the earth point. It'll be bolted on on the R/H inside rear wing somewhere, IIRC. You might also check the connectors to the light clusters themselves.

You want to drive it with faulty brake lights and risk a rear end shunt?

^^ This is how I found out my lights were not working, a van driver nearly went into the back of me, lets just say he made sure I knew the light was out lol :(!!

Seriously, check the wires in the boot and do the pedal switch fix tonight/friday night. It's very likely to be one of those things and they're only going to take an hour to try :)

Safety first ;)

The wire's break inside the loom just by the hinge, put a piece of wood or similar between the front edge of your seat and brake pedal you can then try and trace the fault wiggle wire's etc

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You want to drive it with faulty brake lights and risk a rear end shunt?
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I took my DC5 to japfest, keeping the S2000 off the road until this is sorted :tipwink: i don't want someone going into the back of me, when i found out this was happening i was away from home so i used my hazards to warn people about me braking.

Also the hazards/indicators flash normally as well.

Did you eventually sort this out in the end ? Seeing as this was a year ago ? :)

*P.s.Thanks to RichwiththeS2000 for the brake switch rebuild...

Coldfuse... If your other brake lights are working okay , you probably have the trunk wires getting caught and it's slowly chewing through the brake wires... they tend to stop working intermittantly , and one at a time (Except when you lose the black earth wire.. then trunk auto release, brake lights, trunk interior light etc all stop working :)