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VE Brake lights stay on at night, OK during day

JohnSz

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Hi All, just had an interesting problem and thought I'd post here in case anyone else has something similar. It could happen on any car, so worth keeping in mind.

Last night, I was told by another motorist while stopped at traffic lights (also a Commodore driver - good guy!) that my brake lights were permanently on. I was only 1 min away from friend's place, when I stopped I confirmed that they were in fact on. Then I noticed that when I turned off my lights (i.e. parkers), the brake lights also switched off and then behaved correctly when I pressed the pedal. Turn the parkers back on, and the brakes were on permanently.

Anyway, went inside and stayed for perhaps an hour. When I went to leave, I found that the brake lights were working correctly! I was temporarily relieved, but knew that it was too good to be true. Sure enough by the time that I got home (perhaps 10 mins) the brake lights were permanently on again.

Having a think about it, this morning I decided to replace both tail/stop lamps and found the problem. One of the stop lamps had a bridge between the stop and tail filaments! And the bridge looked quite wonky, so obviously it would short out once the bulb got hot!

Replaced both bulbs and now all is OK :)

I hope that this post saves someone else from ripping their hair out!!
 

stanks81

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Hi All, just had an interesting problem and thought I'd post here in case anyone else has something similar. It could happen on any car, so worth keeping in mind.

Last night, I was told by another motorist while stopped at traffic lights (also a Commodore driver - good guy!) that my brake lights were permanently on. I was only 1 min away from friend's place, when I stopped I confirmed that they were in fact on. Then I noticed that when I turned off my lights (i.e. parkers), the brake lights also switched off and then behaved correctly when I pressed the pedal. Turn the parkers back on, and the brakes were on permanently.

Anyway, went inside and stayed for perhaps an hour. When I went to leave, I found that the brake lights were working correctly! I was temporarily relieved, but knew that it was too good to be true. Sure enough by the time that I got home (perhaps 10 mins) the brake lights were permanently on again.

Having a think about it, this morning I decided to replace both tail/stop lamps and found the problem. One of the stop lamps had a bridge between the stop and tail filaments! And the bridge looked quite wonky, so obviously it would short out once the bulb got hot!

Replaced both bulbs and now all is OK :)

I hope that this post saves someone else from ripping their hair out!!

Not sure if you are still a member of this forum of not, but thank FK you posted this, as I had exactly the same problem this morning, except right from turning the car on in the dark with the headlights on my brake lights were constantly on. Not sure how long this has been a problem for, but only noticed this morning. Was ready to call and make a booking to Holden to get her in to be checked over for an electrical problem until I had a brainwave to turn the headlights off and see if the problem existed. Which it didn't. So I then googled the symptoms and your post popped up. Checked a tail/brake globe I replaced not too long ago and sure enough, bridge between filaments. Tested the car again with the suspect globe removed, all back to normal.

Legend.

Not all heroes wear capes.
 

vs-lover

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Yes I too have been asked the question about exactly the same issue with my neighbours 2010 VE SV6 which has been left with me to sort out while they've gone away in their Navara for a week. With the above information I gather this was a faulty batch of globes sourced by Holden and many originally fitted units are breaking down and thus creating this issue. I'm going to look at it tomorrow and I'll report back to this short thread for future reference to more VE owners that will no doubt have this issue crop up.
 

shane_3800

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Hi All, just had an interesting problem and thought I'd post here in case anyone else has something similar. It could happen on any car, so worth keeping in mind.

Last night, I was told by another motorist while stopped at traffic lights (also a Commodore driver - good guy!) that my brake lights were permanently on. I was only 1 min away from friend's place, when I stopped I confirmed that they were in fact on. Then I noticed that when I turned off my lights (i.e. parkers), the brake lights also switched off and then behaved correctly when I pressed the pedal. Turn the parkers back on, and the brakes were on permanently.

Anyway, went inside and stayed for perhaps an hour. When I went to leave, I found that the brake lights were working correctly! I was temporarily relieved, but knew that it was too good to be true. Sure enough by the time that I got home (perhaps 10 mins) the brake lights were permanently on again.

Having a think about it, this morning I decided to replace both tail/stop lamps and found the problem. One of the stop lamps had a bridge between the stop and tail filaments! And the bridge looked quite wonky, so obviously it would short out once the bulb got hot!

Replaced both bulbs and now all is OK :)

I hope that this post saves someone else from ripping their hair out!!
That is the first thing a mechanic learns as a 1st year at tafe in the electrical section. Same fault can also drop one side out.
 

Adads83

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Hi All, just had an interesting problem and thought I'd post here in case anyone else has something similar. It could happen on any car, so worth keeping in mind.

Last night, I was told by another motorist while stopped at traffic lights (also a Commodore driver - good guy!) that my brake lights were permanently on. I was only 1 min away from friend's place, when I stopped I confirmed that they were in fact on. Then I noticed that when I turned off my lights (i.e. parkers), the brake lights also switched off and then behaved correctly when I pressed the pedal. Turn the parkers back on, and the brakes were on permanently.

Anyway, went inside and stayed for perhaps an hour. When I went to leave, I found that the brake lights were working correctly! I was temporarily relieved, but knew that it was too good to be true. Sure enough by the time that I got home (perhaps 10 mins) the brake lights were permanently on again.

Having a think about it, this morning I decided to replace both tail/stop lamps and found the problem. One of the stop lamps had a bridge between the stop and tail filaments! And the bridge looked quite wonky, so obviously it would short out once the bulb got hot!

Replaced both bulbs and now all is OK :)

I hope that this post saves someone else from ripping their hair out!!
Oh my WORD! I just bought a VE2 wagon, and was told the left tail light was out so I put a globe in that came with the car and hadn’t yet sourced anything except make an appointment with an auto elec….. THANK YOU FROM MAN KIND EVERYWHERE! You saved my bacon and my $. I was scratching my head at this issue, only happened with the left tail light being out, on a whim after reading this I just went and got new gloves for the whole rear end, and it worked! CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH OP!
 

mtd

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Yeah, true. This is just a simple good story. We all (OK, mass generalisation here - its just me!...) tend to think the resolution can only ever be convoluted and complicated, usually our first mistake. Check the basics, check around the traps first.

I'm in IT, if you get frustrated why 'idiots' ask if there is power to your laptop first up? Now you know why.

Well done to stanks81.

 
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