Need Help With Third Brake Light Problem

[ilian51378]

Hey guys,

I have some weird problem with the third brake light on my 95' GTO SR. Let me start with the info that I have installed custom LED tails first, because I am not sure if that could be part of the problem. Anyway, my car came stock with the N/A spoiler on it, but after a while, I got and installed an A/A wing in its place. Somewhere in that time, I also bought and installed a Buldog remote start and keyless entry system. The LED tails needed some diodes installed in the wiring, because otherwise they didn't work properly. So, when I did that, everything worked fine - LED tails, remote starter & keyless entry and the A/A wing.

Well, after some more time, I decided to get a hoop spoiler and after I installed it, the remote starter would not work properly anymore. What happens is, when I remote start the car, the engine starts and all, but when the tails kick in (that's how the remote starter is designed to operate - after you turn on the engine remotely, the running lights come on until you press the brake or until certain amount of time goes by), the engine shuts off... I thought the problem was in the third brake light of the hoop spoiler since the scan of the car showed a code for it, so I connected a Stealth spoiler to see if that would fix the problem, but it didn't. When there is no third brake light connected, the remote starter shuts off the same way.

At some point, I thought of connecting the A/A wing again to see if all was going to work fine as it did when I had that wing on the car and viola - it worked! So, I thought the problem was in the different wattage of all the third brake lights and I bought resistors - one was 5 watts 1.8 ohms (1.8 ohms is what the resistance of the third brake light of the A/A spoiler was so that is why I got that resistor) and the other was 3 watts 1.8 ohms resistor. Well, neither one fixed the problem!

I am at a complete loss as to what I can do next to fix this issue. Does anyone have any clue what could be causing this and how I can fix it? Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

[93STLTH]

Just a guess here Illian, but when you install the AA wing, are you also connecting the wiring to make it work? If so, there may be an issue with not having it wired with the hoop spoiler. You might just have to wire up a jumper to fool the system into thinking the AA spoiler is connected.

[ilian51378]

Just a guess here Illian, but when you install the AA wing, are you also connecting the wiring to make it work? If so, there may be an issue with not having it wired with the hoop spoiler. You might just have to wire up a jumper to fool the system into thinking the AA spoiler is connected.

I had it connected, but not the stock way. I had it working with a DP/DT switch so there was no computer involved... Also, my car is an N/A so there is no stock wiring provided for A/A. It is very tricky - it works with the A/A spoiler, but not with the other ones. I cannot hook up my stock spoiler to check if it works with it, because I don't have it anymore. Something I didn't mention is that when I have the lights on, after 15 minutes of driving the ABS light comes on. I have scanned the car and the code was for "light/brake light" so it must be something different in the resistance of the brake light of the hoop and the Stealth spoilers that tells the system to turn the light on and throw the code. I don't know anymore... Thanks for your input though!

[Steve '92ES]

(1.8 ohms is what the resistance of the third brake light of the A/A spoiler was so that is why I got that resistor)

How do you know that? FWIW you can't measure resistance on a diode. (well, you can but it doesn't work the same way as a resistor.)
You might be better off measuring the resistance of the stock NA wing (if it has bulbs, not LEDs) and using that value.

[ilian51378]

(1.8 ohms is what the resistance of the third brake light of the A/A spoiler was so that is why I got that resistor)

How do you know that? FWIW you can't measure resistance on a diode. (well, you can but it doesn't work the same way as a resistor.)
You might be better off measuring the resistance of the stock NA wing (if it has bulbs, not LEDs) and using that value.

The A/A wing does not have LEDs. It has three regular 5 watt bulbs...