It seems that when I press the brake pedal on my 2000 F250 my dash lights come on. I did a search and came up empty. Anyone have a clue of what might be causing it?

 

Do dash lights come on normally when the headlight switch is turned ON? Does the illumination dimmer work normally?

What are the specific conditions under which you've noticed this symptom?

Any other anomalies?

 

Headlight switch and dimmer works normal. Any time I depress the brake pedal the dash lights come on when the headlight switch is off. I do hear a clicking sound when I press the brake pedal, that is how I noticed the dash lights coming on.

 

I would look under the dash and see if the brake pedal is rubbing any wires. It sounds like a wire is shorting against the brake pedal.

 

Found the problem courtesy of google. The problem was the ground for the trailer connection. Cleaned up the ground and no more problem.

 

Can you copy and paste the info so others can find it in the future?

Thanks!

 

Well I thought I had the problem figured out with the ground, but it was not to be. After I cleaned up the ground I jumped in the cab stepped on the brake pedal, and still had the same problem. The other thing that I noticed was when I turned the lights on the third brake light came on. I disconnected the rear light harness and stepped on the brake pedal and the dash lights did not come on. So I determined that the cause of my woes was coming from the rear light harness. I removed the harness from the utility body and started to ring out the cable. I noticed that Brown wire for the driver’s side light was missing even though I remember it being there when I started the removal process. A little further investigation revealed where some mice decided to have a little snack on the Brown and Light Green/Orange wires causing a short. Repaired both wires re-routed the harness into the body, hooked up the lights and everything works as it should.

 

Figured it had to be a short circuit back-feeding the illumination circuit, a pretty rare occurrence.

Glad to hear you found and repaired the problem. Darned mice!