2000 E320cdi w210 Brake Lights!!!

[rob hamill]

Hi..Can Anyone help! Sitting with my foot on the brake today when it displayed lamp defective, checked and all ok... then i found that the brake lights are staying on when the sidelights are switched on, but not staying on when the sidelights are off. Then later this evening the ABS light and the BAS light came on. Also when you turn off the ignition and take out the key with the sidelights on the engine still runs. (spooky) could this be a sticky relay?...I Also had my car washed before this happened and the guy had to use a fair bit of strong alloy cleaner as i had heavy brake dust grime... now i am thinking if the acid stuff has caused a short on the ABS/BAS wires behind the wheel. My car is in Pristine Condition with 90k and everything was spot on until today. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks Guys!

Will post some photos while i,m here.

 

[jberks]

First thing to do is to pull both brake light bulbs and see if it makes any difference. A short circuit in one of the bulbs can give all sorts of problems. I once had an Astra that would run without the key if the sidelights were on and my foot was on the brake. This was a dodgy bulb.
All this is interrelated to the brake light switch wihich is in turn related to the BAS/ESP/ABS so it could also affect this too.
The next contender would be the brake light switch itself. A common failure though the symptoms are unusual.

 

[rob hamill]

JBerks...Thank you very much for your reply and guess what you were spot on!...went to see an auto electrician today and the stop/tail bulb was in the wrong way...of course i forced it in!... I had the right bulb but the problem was its what they called staggered 7 o clock. I had put it in the wrong way which caused the short. Many Thanks for your help and hope this might help anyone on the forum in the future when they do this amazing trick! Regards. Rob.