I was working on a friends 93 4runner 3.0 MT today. Her problem is that the instrument panel lights up when the brake is applied. It does it when the ignition is on or off. When the ignition is off the buzzer that reminds you the lights are on also makes its sound when the brake is depressed. I pulled the instrument panel out today and didn't see any obvious bare wires or shorts. The fuses have not blown which I interpret as the short is not to the ground. This also started out of the blue so there wasn't anything done to cause a change in the circuitry.

I looked over the wiring diagrams and the only place I can see the circuits could communicate is either in the wiring harness under the dash or possibly at the integration relay. Does anyone have any advice on how to test the integration relay to see if that could be malfunctioning? Any other suggestions on where to start???

Thanks,
KG

 

well i cant help ya but that is one intersting problem lol when you figure it out dont forget to tell us how ya fixed it

 

i had the same problem only when my truck was running until i replaced the voltage regulator didnt make any sense when it was happening but that fixed it

 

try checking the brake light bulbs and sockets. Could be a short there. I had a car that someone put a 1156 instead of an 1157 and everytime you hit the brakes the dome light came on, the power backfed throught the system. Maybe the brake light socket is corroded and shorting out.

 

I've seen this happen before. Where a single filament bulb is put in place of a dual filament bulb. Ask her if she replaced a burned out tail light bulb recently. Usually a quick test to check for that would be turn on the running lights and look at the tail light. Have someone step on the brakes. If the tail light doesnt get any brighter most likely it has the wrong bulb.