The brake light will be on and off?

AKINLO TAIWO

MEMBER
2007 TOYOTA CAMRY
4 CYL
AUTOMATIC
116,000 MILES

I discovered that when the car is on motion the brake light will be on and off. When the brake light is on the speedometer will stop working. However, when the brake light is off the speedometer will immediately pick up. I want to know the likely problem.

Thursday, July 30th, 2020 AT 10:06 AM

3 Replies

AL514

MECHANIC
5,317 POSTS

Hello, does this only happen when you're driving? Not sitting still. It sounds like you may have a lose plug on the back of the combination meter. It's called a pin fit issue. Or the combination meter is going bad. It sounds like the problem is isolated to the gauge unit (combination meter).

Check this guide out

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/brake-lights-not-working

As long as there's no other issues such as check engine light or other lights involved. There might be the longer the problem exists. Its probably the vibration of driving causing the plug to move. As you can see from the diagrams they are both controlled by a micro computer inside the meter.

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Thursday, July 30th, 2020 AT 1:18 PM

AKINLO TAIWO

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thanks for the reply. Even it happens when the engine is on and not in motion. If the hand brake is not applied the light still on and off.

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Thursday, July 30th, 2020 AT 1:59 PM

AL514

MECHANIC
5,317 POSTS

Yeah, it sounds like a loose connection somewhere or the micro computer is acting up. The combination meter is pretty complicated, there are computer data lines called CAN bus that are connected to other modules in the car. So since the problem is so far isolated to the combination meter, I would start there. The plugs for power and communications are on the back of the meter and need to be checked first. If the tachometer is dropping out too.

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