Ford 1982 E100 6cyl former delivery van.

Brake lights come on in back AND front. I push down on the brakes and the front "orange" driving lights come on at the same time. Not flashing like the hazard lights. Just act as "front brake lights" and only "flashing" if I pump the brake pedal (which, of course, the rear brakelights would be flashing to)

A few months back, we had to straight wire from the Driver's headlight back to the Driver's rear for the brake light to work. On the Passenger side, it was opposite. The Passenger headlight would not work but the Passenger rear/brake light did. Tried all sorts of rewiring and this was the only way the the problem areas would work properly. Even after checking and replacing any corroded wires/sockets, fuses and so on. We went through all the wiring several times to check for any bad grounds.

Otherwise, the headlights, turn signels, driving lights and hazard lights work normally. Just in essence, I have "brakelights" front and rear.

To say the least, this is weird. But it works.

 

If the wiring was stock I would suspect a bad signal switch, rear light socket, bulb or ground is bad.

I'm not clear on how you wired the past repair... How did wiring the headlight into the rear make the brake light work? I'm assuming this must be part of the problem.

There is a good tech article about testing and repairing rear lights under ARTICLES at the top of the page. The article is about 70's pickups but yours works the same although the wire colors may be different.

Marty

 

I am going to assume you wired the "running lights" from front to rear? If so, I would suspect a bad ground in the rear taillight. When you hit the brakes, the current should run through the brake light bulb in the rear, and then to ground. But if the ground is bad, the current will run through the brake light bulb, and then travel backwards through the running light circuit. You are seeing this up front because you wired them together.

Another verification that it is the ground, is see what happens when you turn the headlights on. If it is a bad ground, the front light will light when the headlights are turned on, but go completely out when you hit the brakes.

 

Nothing goes out when the brakes are put on. The front running lights do not go out afterward, they just "brighten" when the brake pedal is used then return as "running lights" as normal.

The rear and side running lights work just fine too.

However, The "brakelight indicator" lights up in the Left Turn signal section instead of in it's seperate "Brakelight" dash area. HOWEVER, the signal works without any contradiction or problem.

The friend who did this is a master electrician and just figured how to solve the problems we had. All the bad sockets were replaced. Same thing with the bulbs.

We also thought it was the signal switch at first too and we did have a problem with one of the signals not working. Was seriously thinking getting an aftermarket bypass switch box but the problem was finally fixed properly. All signal lights work.

This van has seen alot of hard use as a water delivery van for years going from Phoenix to Showlow before being sold. We know the people who bought it, and the husband is a master mechanic who went through the engine/transmission before selling it to us. Replaced what was needed and making sure everything else mechanical was still sound. It was going to be turned into a conversion van until his wife had to go in for surgery.

All lights were still working when we got it and they had not gone through wiring as there did not seem any reason to then (The husband drove it/delivered it 120 miles from Phoenix to our place last January. His wife followed in their truck to drive back with) They did tell us what needed fixing that they knew of (mostly minor that was fixed with his help or we are in the process of).....so this van was not bought "blind".

Just the "Driver headlight off /brakelight on" Passenger headlight on/brakelight off" problem showed up shortly afterward which our electrician friend worked on. We figure attrition finally caught up with it. The van is well worth fixing up.

It probably still a ground issue. But without tearing everything apart to trace it down, the electrician resolved the problem using this alternative method.

Thank you for the tips and will read the article you mentioned. Eventually, we may still have to use a more conventional method to get it fixed. But for the time being, it can be driven on the road as it is.

 

I read the article "Turn and Stop Lamp diagnosis" (I believe this is the one you meant)

Yep, similar and most of the diagnosis was done much as the author did. Some different for a few reasons and different solution. But I have this in my favorites now to show him later.

Thanks!