How To Fix Brake Lamp Bulb Fault

If your brake lamp bulb is faulty, it’s very bad to you and your car as the light will fail to indicate when you’re slowing down tor halting to the rear cars. It is very important to have your car’s brake light shine when you match the brake pedal.

By the brake lamp bulb shining only, you let the cars following you to know your next intention and react accordingly by applying their brakes or swerve off your rear. Bake lamp bulb is there to shine a warning to your rear drivers and prevent collision and accidents. A Brake lamp bulb fault warning is displayed if your braking system is faulty and wont let the brake lamp bulb to shine, maybe flickering or not shining at all.

Though, its not repetitive fault in cars. But if you’re trying to know the cause and how to fix your brake lamp bulb, then read on.

What Does Brake Lamp Bulb Fault Mean?

The brake lamp bulb fault warning light indicates that there is a problem with your braking system. When this light appears, it indicates a fault but you have to examine your car to know the reason for the indication.

So, any fault that causes your car to indicate “brake lamp bulb fault” is an issue with the braking system.

Your car’s brake light is dependent on electrical wiring of your car and runs through many fuses and switches that regulate the brake light.

So, if your brake light is faulty. That means there is essential fuse problem, your brake light bulb is faulty, or there is electrical connection problem.

Brake Lamp Bulb Fault: Causes and Solutions

Car brake light problems don’t have to be head-scratchers. There are certain issues that crop up over and over again when diagnosing why a vehicle’s brake lights are not working, which makes it that much easier to figure out what’s wrong with your brakes when you tap the pedal. Check out these four common conundrums that cause your brake lamp to light up and how you can solve them.

Faulty Brake Light Bulb

As your drive your car steadily and the car bulb gets old. It will start to lose its brightness and start malfunctioning till it finally dies out.

So, when your brake light bulb have passed their useful life span, it starts to develop faults every now and then and may even die automatically.

When there’s fault with the brake light bulb, a notice is shown on your dashboard with the warning message “Brake lamp bulb faulty”.

This notification is there for safety purpose and you shouldn’t ignore it as to avoid accident or collision to other road users.

Solution

With the steps below, you can replace a faulty bulb rather than repair it.

First, get a screw to loosen the faulty bulb’s case bolt.
Now unplug the bulb gently and inspect its filament. (a dark smoke or dark brown smoke indication there means the bulb is dead.)
Remove it and get a compatible and bright bulb to replace it.
Carefully tighten the brake light case again. And that’s it.

Bad Brake Switch

Your car’s brake is expected to shine only when you match the brake pedal. The switch regulating the brake light is seen close to the brake pedal.

When you match the pedal, the switch activates the rear right.

Your car ABS will turn ON if there is fault with this switch.

Solution

You might need some technical knowledge to properly fix this issue. Or you can hire a technician to fix it as its an essential part of your car’s braking system.

We cant advise you to go ahead and replace the brake switch if you don’t have the knowledge. Its proper to have a mechanic fix it.

Blown Fuse

A blown fuse in your car could trigger the “Brake Lamp Bulb Fault” message.

The fuse is there to regulate the brake light when to shine and when you’re not matching the brake pedal. Hence, in such occasion, there’s no fault with your brake lamp bulb or the switch. The fuse might need replacement and the light will be back to normal.

With faulty fuse, your lamp bulb might flicker and go off or keep flickering or cant bring out enough light.

You can find your car’s brake fuse in the power distribution center that is located underneath the dashboard of under the hood.

If you haven’t come across the name ‘power distribution center,’ It’s just the fuse box technical name.

Solution

Repairing this fuse will only fix this fault temporary. Therefore, we recommend you replace the damaged fuse with a new one. To change a fuse, follow the steps below:

First, switch your car OFF to turn off all electric flow.
Next, get your car’s owner’s manual to locate the brake lamp’s fuse.
Identify the faulty fuse. It usually have a dark brown color, and you need just to cut its wire out.
Now remove the faulty fuse and replace it with a compatible one.

Once replaced, your car’s brake light should shine again when you match the brake pedal. After changing this and the fault persist, the get an auto mechanic to check the car wirings.

Wiring Problems

As said earlier, the brake lamp bulb is the work of the car’s electrical system. And electrical wiring fault could trigger the warning message. So, when the wire connecting your brake lamp bulb to the buttons, brake pedal, and to the fuse is faulty, the message will appear.

Also, a short circuit in your car’s wiring can trigger this warning as well.

Solution

You can fix this error in three ways which are:

By replacing the damaged wires or rewire them with same cable if its still manageable.
Use tape to cover the naked wiring.
Clean all wiring terminals and tighten every connections properly.

Faulty Relay Or Module

It’s the brake module or relay that sends the information to your car’s braking system. This happens that when you match the brake pedal, it relays a data to the central system which activates the car system to stop your car.

Also, the brake lamp receives signals from this module.

So, when this relay mode is faulty, it as well affect your car’s brake lamp bulb fault message to appear. Furthermore, it can brake failure or cause your brake lights to not shine properly or shine at all. And when the system is damaged to an extent, it can affect your car’s engine and force itt o shutdown fi your car has the push start feature.

Solution

You cant probably fix this yourself if you’re not an auto expert. Therefore, if you’re not one, don’t try fixing it as you might cause more damage to your car. While if you have an insight to it, you can get a multimeter to troubleshoot the module check if its still functioning. When it fails, you can go ahead to replace it with a spare or a new one.

Reduced Brake Fluid Level in the Brake Master Cylinder

The Master Cylinder is a very important to your car’s hydraulic system. Its duty is to hold an amount of fluid that supports the possibility for braking.

When you match the brake pedal, the master cylinder will push an incompressible fluid in the hydraulic brake line, which will trigger the car’s module to halt the car.

When the fluid runs low, it cant be enough for the pedals to send signals, thus, your cars’ brake lamp wont shine.

What could cause loss of fluid on the cylinder can be leakage, and may as well reduce after an extensive use without refill.

Solution

To fix this issue, you can add more brake fluid to the reservoir, so the level will be automatically increased when its about to run low. Also, as a general advise, you might replace your brake pads because they might have worn-out and this will reduce the brake fluid level.

Bad Socket

Another factor that can cause a problem with your brake light is a bad socket. If you have a single brake light out and the bulb is good, then the next step is to check the light socket itself. Brake light problems can include a socket whose connections are dirty or corroded or one whose wiring has become worn to the point where it’s only making an intermittent connection. Replacing a socket is as simple as snipping the old wires and splicing in the new unit, which is typically an inexpensive part to purchase.

If you keep these tips in mind, most brake light problems will be easy to diagnose and fix on your own. Of course the experts at your local AutoCare or mechanic work shops can always be of help to solve your brake light problems for those who prefer a hands-off solution.

Conclusion

Solving issues with your brake light can be very easy with these simple guides, always remember to seek professional help if you get confused so as not to cause an additional problem to your car.

check how to fix your Chrysler Check Engine Light