As for the incandescent vs. LED question, it isn't an "amperage draw" issue. It is a physical filament in the incandescent bulb that allows an electrical path through the circuit (continuity) when the bulb is not energized. A light emitting diode has no physical circuit through it.

 

Got you. Thanks for the lesson on that, I was never really sure why LEDs blinked faster. So I want a incandescent bulb on my brake light warnig on the dash. By the way do you remember what the bulb code is for that little bitty bowl? I feel like the bigger bulbs were 194 but I don't remember what the tiny bulbs were.

 

Been a while sice swapping to LED lights.....

74 is the number.

 

Thanks Cleatus.

I swapped out the bulbs in a few spots including the water in fuel bulb. I got to thinking about it, since you need an incandescent bulb for the computer to realize that there is a bulb in the slot, I realized I had an LED bulb in the wif hole. I believe that is why the computer was shooting the code for the indicator circuit for the wif. But unfortunately, I switched the bulb in the brake slot and it did not do anything. I then decided maybe the little holster for the brake bulb might not be working right. So I swapped the wait to start holster and bulb into the brake spot and vice versa. Wait to start still works and the brake still did not. The brake light doesn't even come on when I turn the key on and all the dash lights up, the brake light doesn't work. I'm pretty confident that the pedal switch on the parking brake is fine because the PCM reads when the brake is on and off. But for some reason, the light on the dash just will not work maybe, it is due to something in the cluster or maybe there's a broken wire somewhere. Either way, no matter what type of bulb I put in the parking brake slot I could not get the light to come on. To be honest I don't feel like chasing it any further than I have so, I don't see any reason to. as all of you already stated my best bet is probably to just get a hydra and program a high idle and a race tune.... That was part of what had to happen right?
All jokes aside, my next purchase will be gauges and then shortly after a Hydra. Just to have some fun I will probably load as many tunes as possible at first which I believe was 15 tunes on the Hydra just so I can play with some stuff. I'll put a little bit of everything on there. Why not?

I will definitely make a list so I can keep up with which tunes are in what spot and I will put the more preferred/used tunes towards the bottom of the spectrum.

 

Yep, all codes are gone after swapping the bulbs out for incandescent except, intake air heater circuit which is because I deleted it, and I'm sure my brake indicator fault is going to come back because it is not working. I wanted to test the pedal switch anyway but, I see no way that the pedal switch could be bad considering the PCM is registering it as break on and off. But I did mess with the switch anyway and I could not come up with anything from it. I must have some wiring issues somewhere. Might be in the cluster itself.

 

I vote for wiring or cluster (or connector).

The brake switch wire tees off - one leg to the light in the cluster, one leg to the GEM....which in turn tells the PCM what's up. If the PCM knows, the GEM knows.

 

For the C1223 code, Forscan says to suspect either the GEM or the instrument cluster itself. I already replaced the GEM, switch, and played around with the bulbs and sockets on the gauge cluster just as you did to no avail, so I pretty much narrowed it down to the cluster itself being faulty. Sounds like we have the exact same issue regarding the light not working...it doesn't light up at the start-up bulb check on mine either.

Supposing I was willing to replace the whole cluster, I am not sure you can even still get a new one or what you'd have to go through to get the odometer calibrated to match the old one. There are used ones available on Ebay but I don't know how the odometer thing works. I have one of the older mechanical ones.

 

Personally, I'm not exactly sure if it's wiring or the cluster. I find it so weird that the bulb has to work for the high idle to work. I would think the bulb would be the dead end for the circuit. Who knows why engineers do anything. Personally, I don't think I'm going to chase this any further. I don't really need a brake light that bad and if I did I could wire my own up. It would be rather easy but, screw that. I'm just going to get me a Hydra for my high idle. I don't feel like diving into the wiring any further than I have. And I don't know a whole lot about diagnosing boards on a cluster so, I'm going to leave it like it is. Heck for all I know the grounding circuit could be working just fine for the brake light on the dash but the power wire powering it could have a short somewhere or a cut off somewhere on the board. There's no telling. But I can say one thing, I do not feel like taking my dash apart to try to figure it out. So, next step gauges and then hydra!

 

I guess it just never ends 😂

This morning my wait to start light didn't work. Worked fine all day yesterday but this morning nothing. Had cycle the key a few times, nothing. Guess I'm going to pull the cluster and check the bulb. No fault codes for it, checked multiple times. Just know where to start late this morning. I might inspect the cluster while I have it out again and see if I can see any damages heading over to the brake bulb. Just because I have it out. So glad that my dash is easy to take out now with the a title mounted inside the dash instead of on the bezel.

 

Have you ever noticed, the more we mess with stuff, the less it works properly. Sometimes its truthfully accurate to say its best to just let things alone.
Kinda like my truck, I tell all my friends it worked great before I got ahold of it

How many miles on your cluster?

 

Hopefully the ribbon cables in the back just came loose or are making poor contact. You can use a pencil eraser to clean them a bit, gently. If you have contact cleaner for the instrument cluster side, that would be helpful.

Concerning the parking brake light, I seem to recall there being two sockets/positions labeled very similar... Perhaps I am wrong though. Verify you are using the correct socket for the parking brake. Or, leave it be and get the truck running again. You don't have to put everything back to together to get the truck running, just hand tighten the screws for the instrument cluster, or just put it back in place and turn on the ignition to see if the WTS light comes on. If it doesn't start looking at the fuse and or other things you may have "adjusted".

Did you put an LED in the WTS socket?

I have one LED in the cluster and that is for the cruise control light.

Don't fix it until it is broken is a mantra that I have subscribed to after completely jacking up a supercharged car I had many years ago...

 

Did you actually remove the switch from the parking brake pedal or confirm that it was plugged in? Let me re-iterate here that high idle works fine on my truck even though the brake light doesn't work on the dash, so obviously it's possible for the switch to work and send it's message to the PCM independent of the dash light. The switch is not expensive and easy to replace. One little bolt and a one wire spade connector. Make sure the bumper on the top of the pedal that pushes the switch plunger is making good contact.

 

I would bypass the switch with a jumper wire for testing the switch function in regards to high idle. I assume it’s normally open and brake on causes a closed circuit. I haven’t looked at mine (don’t fix if it ain’t broken) so not sure exact function. 2 wire I’d think should just jump across terminals, if it’s 1 wire it likely goes to ground.

 

The wts bulb was blown. As for if I'm using the correct slot for the parking brake, I am not sure. It's hooked up the way it was when I got it. I'm about to make a short little video showing everything off and I'll let you all be the judge of it.

 

I could not get continuity from the brake wire on the pedal switch to the cluster. Unless it goes throught the PCM first, before going to the cluster. I couldn't get any connection from brake to cluster at all. But the PCM says when the brake is on or off according to forscan. So probably a problem from where the wire t's off to go to the cluster.