Originally Posted by supercoolang

After many failed attempts to fix my brake lights by following previous posts I have found throughout the web, I thought I would save some of you some serious frustration and headaches.

If your brake lights stop working and you can't shift:

If your car won't shift out of park without pushing the shift interlock override then you need to replace the brake pedal switch. it is at the top of the brake pedal lever, and although it is a pain in the a** to get too, it only takes a few minutes to change, and you will be able to shift and your brake lights will work. (hint: mark the new switch at some point to align with a point on the plug, as you will be plugging the connector back in without being able to see it.

IF the lamp out indicator is lit up on your dash and you lose your tail lights or your brake lights, and you have checked and replaced your bulbs, and checked your fuses then it is probably the stupid lamp failure sensor. My car is a 1992 LE wagon, and although your wiring colors may not be the same on other years, the basic procedure is the same, as well as the way that I tested and found the correct wires.

First you must locate the lamp failure sensor. On the wagon, you have to remove the drivers side rear interior moulding panel. It is a pain, as you have to remove the back floor, as well as the seat edge which only has one bolt. After you remove the several screws and other peices of moulding that you find in the way, you will see a purple box mounted near the electric antenna. (This is on my 92, so you may or may not have the rear wiper relay depending on year, and sedan or wagon.) Despite the model, it seems that the sensor that you are looking for is always on the drivers side, rear interior of the vehicle behind carpet or trim. On my wagon, if you look toward the rear from the purple wiper relay, you will find a small yellow clip mounted almost up behind the upper moulding. This is the mounting clip for the lamp failure sensor. Push it through with a screw driver and a small yellow box, (pack of smokes size) will fall down. This is the sensor. Unplug the wire harness from it and throw this peice of crap in the trash. If you are interested, open it up and you most likely will find a burn, or burns on the circuit board or resistors. This is the light problem culprit. (Keep in mind that if you discard it, then you will no longer have the indicator light on the dash to tell you that a tail lamp is out, but hell, after you get to this stupid thing you will never want to deal with a bad one again, so you be the judge of what you do. (new from toyota, 190$, junkyard, 25$ or so but who knows how long it will last.)

To bypass on my 1992:

cut the dark green wire, the dark green with a red stripe, the red wire, the light green wire, and the green with white stripe wire. Splice together the dark green and the light green. Then splice together the red, the dark green with red stripe, and the green with white stripe. Now you will have tail lights, and brake lights, but remember you will no longer have the sensor.

If your wires are different colors:

Cut the wires except for the yellows, the white with black stripe, and beige. You should end up with five wires. Use a test light, to determine which are your two feed wires by having someone turn on the tail lights and find your tail light hot feed. Do the same thing with the brake pedal.
Now that you know which wires activate which lights, you can connect the red to the brake light activated wire, (the red is ussually the third brake light wire - wagons obviously. ) Push the brake pedal to confirm this. Next splice one of the two remaining wires to the tail light hot feed. Turn on the tail lights. IF the tail lights look very bright, then remove the wire you just spliced to the tail light hot feed, and splice the remaining wire to the tail light hot feed instead. If the tail lights work, and they are dimmer now, then connect the remaining wire to the brake light hot feed and the red, and you should now be in business.

Good luck, and for me anyway, good riddens to that stupid tail lamp failure sensor!!

Originally Posted by toyomoho

Year of car?

Your hubby cut the sensor wires and remove the sensor unit?