hi everyone,
recently we aquired a 71 camaro with a bit of a light problem. heres the run down.
Turn signals work front and rear
running lights work all around car
no brake lights

Previous owner ran a 12 guage wire from the foot switch all the way back to the signal side of both rear lights.

White wire that orginally ran from the foot switch to the rear of car has a break in it somewhere so i will be replacing that.

So the question is, how are the brake lights configured to come on when the signal is on as well.

i know this does not explain everything and just may be confusing but i dont even know where to start with this, so im just throwing it out there to maybe get some kind of input.

thanks
Tyler

hi everyone,
recently we aquired a 71 camaro with a bit of a light problem. heres the run down.
Turn signals work front and rear
running lights work all around car
no brake lights

Previous owner ran a 12 guage wire from the foot switch all the way back to the signal side of both rear lights.

White wire that orginally ran from the foot switch to the rear of car has a break in it somewhere so i will be replacing that.

So the question is, how are the brake lights configured to come on when the signal is on as well.

i know this does not explain everything and just may be confusing but i dont even know where to start with this, so im just throwing it out there to maybe get some kind of input.

thanks
Tyler

Since you already mentioned that the
white wire that orginally ran from the foot switch to the rear of car has a break in it somewhere and you will be replacing it I would replace the brake light switch as well and that should make the brakes lights operational.

Well see the thing is i temporarly wired around the switch just to see if that was the problem and still nothing.

im not for sure which wire(s) runs the brakes lights in the back. I took a 12v wire ran it to all wires one at a time and never came across one that would light both of them up.

I could really use just a diagram of all the wires and what they do i have a manual but it does not go into that much detail.

what filiment in the bulb is lit up when the brakes are pressed? the running filment or the turn signal filiment?

if you ever notice when you have the parking lights on and you turn the turn signal on, the light bulb gets brighter so the brake lights and turn signals share the same filiment.:yes::thumbsup:

yup, Bird's right. If you have rear turn signals on the bright filament your wires are ok.

On my 66 PU the turn signal switch in the column caused a similar problem only goofier.

ok so the wiring for the signals are good, but what controls the light whether it is to signal or brake.

previous owner hooked up a hot wire off the brake switch to both signal lights. This does not work becuase if you have your turn signal on and hit the brakes it cancels out the signal and is just a solid light on both rear lights.

make any sense?

So what i need to know is how do i get brakes and still have the rear signals light up when i am signaling.?

Thanks for the help i really appreciate it

Ok so i started going through the steering column harness and found a black w/white stripe wire that is hot when i push on the brakes so that tells me this.

becuase the lights work with the signals there is a contact part in the switch that is not allowing the brake lights to come on. so i need a steering column signal switch.

does that sound right? i mean it makes sense to me becuase the signals are getting voltage but just not for the brake side of the switch... ? right

It appears the previous owner tapped into the signal lights instead of the brake lights.....Just trace the wires to the brake lights and switch the connections.

The turn signal switch does not control the brake lights!.....The brake light switch, mounted around the brake pedal, controls the brake lights!

if thats the case then why is there a hot wire from the brake switch in the signal cam switch?

also if that is the case what wire(s) would it be that turns the brake lights on?

I thought that the white wire that is on hot when the pedal is pushed went into the steering column to activate the signals from there?

3 wires(yellowL-greenR-brownT), 4 counting a ground is all there is to it.
2 of them are left/right turn and brake
1 is tail(at the column it may become 2 wires for tail lights but they are common)

When the brake lights come on both turn sig wires go hot

The switch on your brake pedal is a 1 wire switch, it is a white wire, It gets power from the stop/hazard fuse and sends it to the turn/hazard switch........ it communicates to the turn signal lever to power both wires to your bright filaments. It does not directly power the stop lights.


Have you made sure you have the correct flasher? That's the only other possibility than the signal switch itself.

Yes I actually replaced both the signal and the hazard flashers because they both were bad. So with that said I assume like you were saying it is the switch.


When we got the car and I pulled the steering wheel off someone had put electrical tape on both sides of the cam so it could not make the contact to light up the signals. Sounds like to me there was a problem in the first place and someone didn’t want to hunt for it and just rigged it.

Well ill buy a switch wire harness and all for the column I think on eBay they are only $30 or so. Once installed ill let everyone know.

Is there anything that will cause me trouble when disassembling the column to run the wires?

Thanks Wolf and everyone else for the help

Ok ended up getting everything to work!! I found that the metal or plastic piece on the signal cam that holds pressure on it to click is missing. I know that i did not lose it so i would assume previous owner lost it and did not mess with it.

Does anyone know where i could find that piece that holds the wires with the springs down to the cam?
thanks
Tyler

THank you everyone for your help and have a happy holiday!!