2000 Catera brake light problem

[TimUrbin]

Greetings!

My daughter has a 2000 Catera. She had to replace the drivers side rear brake light. Her neighbor helped her but installed it wrong causing the bulb to break. I put a new one in correclty and it worked until the passenger side went out. Now neither side will light when she brakes even with new bulbs installed.

Strange though is that if I remove both of the sockets, the center brake light WILL work. But it doesn't work if the side bulbs/sockets are installed. Any help/suggestions on where to look next? No pinched wires or burned fuses have been found.

Thanks for any help!
Tim

[Po Pimp]

Well I am not trying to get your hopes up to much as you could very well have a wiring problem but it sounds similar to what my catera did right before the brake light switch went out.

This thread will show you how to change it. It will be cheaper to spend the intial $20 or so dollars and find out for yourself.

Brake light switch replacement


I actually just reread what you wrote. I can not actually say that I remove both bulbs and found that the middle one worked. You could still try the brake switch. Unplug the wiring that goes to it, plug in the new one, turn the ignition into the run position. If the brake switch was bad the brake lights should be lit up with the new switch at this point. If it was not then the lights will still not be lit up but you can at least take the part back, lie and say it was something else.

[Steven420]

lie and say it was something else.

Mother Karma will get you....

[TimUrbin]

Thanks for the reply. I wondered if the brake switch could be the problem but the fact the middle light will light if both side sockets are removed threw me. Maybe the voltage isn't adequate coming through the swtich when all three lights are attached?

It does seem that the next step is to remove that switch. Is the switch $20 or so through the dealer or is that a price ordering online?

Thanks again for the reply!

[Po Pimp]

I got mine at Advance Auto Parts. I did have to wait until the next day as they did not have it in stock.

I guess the reason I said it sounded familiar is that when I first got my Catera the passengar side brake light was out. I bought and put both new bulbs in. A couple days later as I was leaving my brother's house he said the driver's side was out. When I got around to checking on it the next day neither of the three worked. Plugged in the switch all three lit up. I never actually took the two bulbs out to see if the the third one worked.

I would think at least this way you have an option on something to check out first. It could be a wiring problem. If it boils down to process of elimination I would go with the easy stuff first, especially if I can get my money back. I am sure there is some sort of a check for the brake switch but I have never seen the procedure.

If someone does have the procedure for checking the brake switch please post it. I would be interested to see it as I am sure TimUrbin would too and it would be useful for the forum further down the line as a referal link.