My third light works but not the side brake lights. That tells me the switch on the pedal is fine. One thing I am not sure about is if the third brake light also acts as a tail light. It does stay on when driving lights are on and then gets brighter when brake pedal is pushed. Should it be on all the time or could this be the short that is causing me problems. I am assuming that the signal for the brake lights and third brake light do get to the rear of the car by the same wires. If that is correct my guess is I should be looking for a short just ahead of the drivers rear wheel. Possibly where the third brake light and the regular brake lights junction. I also have no cruise control but I believe I found that problem. The clutch pedal switch was bad. I have no way to test it untill spring but I am sure that the switch being defective would cause the CC to not work. Any ideas on the brake lights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

I guess I should clarify that my trouble is on the 968 and not the 944

 

third brake light should not be on all the time - only when the pedal is applied.

 

Thank you, that is a good first start in trying to figure this out. It sounds like a short somewhere. I have tried disconnecting the third brake light but I still have no other brake lights.

 

It sounds like a bad ground in 1 or both tail lights. I just fixed a car yesterday with a very similar problem and it was a bad ground in each tail light housing... but this was a mercedes so YMMV.

Also, it seems unlikely but I have seen a car with all tail light bulbs burned out. I thought it had to be something more complicated but 4 bulbs and it was done.

 

Thank you I will look and check and clean any ground wires I see. I have checked at least one of the bulbs and that socket does not have power as well. I guess it would be possible to have one bulb shorted out and that is causing problems. Also I was thinking there was just one brake light bulb on each side. Are you saying there is 2 on each side?

 

There's one brake/tail light, and one tail light, on each side. The center is just a brake light.

When I say brake light I mean it comes on with the brakes only, and when I say tail light I mean it comes on (dim) with the headlights.

 

I found where the third brake light splits from the main wiring lead and goes up through the hatch. Unplugged it and still no brake lights or no lighting of the brake bulbs at all. It seems to me that if a short is lighting up the third brake light that far back on the car it should also be lighting up the brake lights as well. I am now assuming the short or problem is definitly somewhere in the rear hatch of the car, or at least part of the short anyway. The short that is lighting up the third brake light could be a different problem altogether. I learned that lesson a long time ago. This is getting very frustrating.

 

You did check the fuses right? And you checked/swapped/replaced the tail light bulbs?

 

checked all fuses and checked one bulb, also tried test light in the socket. I am getting to the point that I am toying with the idea of running new wires back directly from the brake pedal switch.

 

I want to clarify that I tested one bulb and it was good. The other bulb I just looked at but it is not burnt out

 

Here is my solution, I know it is not the right way to do it buy I am out of ideas. I figured out that the third brake light must come back on a seperate wire from the regular tail brake lights. I do not know why they would but that is the way I see it. I found out that my third brake light was coming on due to a short in the wiper. Unplugged it, do not need a wiper any way. Now I am going to splice into the third brake light wire and run that to the tail light brake wires. It will work but obviously much much smarter people than me did it different when they designed so I hope it does not cause any further problems.

 

All lights now work, on to the next project which is getting my hood shocks fixed. My front bumper is done getting painted and hope to have it on by this weekend. Still will not be able to drive it for at least another 3 weeks and maybe not untill spring. Unfortutaly I live in a winter hell hole called Nebraska.

 

I always thought Nebraska was one of the cooler state names. I mean, California... it's so obvious... you can rearrange it to spell "fornicalia".

 

Speaking of states. Does anyone ever remember any other 968 owners from Nebr on this board. I would think there would only be a few 968's in the entire state. A few 944's used be seen but rarely anymore. I live in a town of about 25,000 and I believe there are only about 5 or 6 pcars in the entire city.