[duglas]

I bought a used 98 Sentra for my sister and bought it during the day and did not notice any problems. now that it has been driven at night I found one really odd problem.. Everything I hit the brakes the dash lights come on, they can be changed with the dimmer too, so if I keep my foot on the brake pedal I can turn the dash lights up and down with the light switch off.. Everything else seems fine.
The car has 110K miles, I was told the motor, trans, door panels, seats were all replaced from a same year, same model Sentra with 55K miles, I am guessing it might be a wiring problem but have no idea where to start.. I removed the radio just to make sure but it is still doing it..

Any ideas...!???

 

[IanH]

Yes, check the tail lamp grounds. look at the bulbs back there to see whats on and what happenss when you apply the brakes. my guess is that the brake light ground is bad, sending 12V down the tail lamp circuit, which is also the dash light circuit.
what happens when the parking lights are on and you hit the brakes, what bulb goes ourt ?

 

[metro273]

It's one of your taillight bulbs. You either have a single filament bulb where a dual filament bulb is supposed to go or the dual filaments contacts have melted and are touching each other. Remove ALL of your taillight bulbs and look at the bases of the bulbs!

 

[duglas]

You were 100% right!!!!! The rear bulbs were the problem, I replaced them with the correct ones and all works 100% now
thanks

 

[metro273]

^^^Glad to hear your little problem is fixed...good job!