2000 taco brake lights

Aaahhh man I was hoping to see a phoos of 2000 Taco brake lights!!

Sorry can't help with your question.

check the wires or plug at the top of your brake pedal under the dash. maybe something unplugged or a short in the wire and not sending a current to the lights :shrug: does your 3rd brake light come on when you hit the brakes?

The third brake light was working for a while when the other two were not but as of now all three are in-op.

Step 1. Get a bulb that works and try it in the left then right socket, If the bulb lights up when the brakes are pressed change both rear brake light bulbs.
Step 2. If the bulb doesnt light up in either position, change the 15 amp fuse.
Step 3. If after the fuse has been changed and all the bulbs are good you need to check the brake switch located on the pedal itself. Follow the link to the 2000 Tacoma Toyota Factory Service Manual that shows how to check the brake switch.

http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/2000/Repair Manual/Body Electrical/Stop Lighjt/insp.pdf.
If this the brake lights still dont come on, let us know.

12V test light would help in troublshooting, will tell you if power is getting to the fuse, etc. You can unplug the brake switch connector and jump its two wires (edit: the wires @ pins 1 & 2, per procedure link) with a paper clip (by-passing the switch). If the brake lights come on then the switch is bad.

Awesome, thanks a lot guys for the suggestions ill give them a try tomorrow and report back with what happens!

Stock Taco said:

You can unplug the brake switch connector and jump its two wires (edit: the wires @ pins 1 & 2, per procedure link) with a paper clip (by-passing the switch). If the brake lights come on then the switch is bad.

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Thats a great idea Stock. This would probably be the fastest way to make sure the entire circuit is working properly.

yeah man, sounds like a brake pedal switch to me, but behind that it'd be a ground issue, no clue what the wiring on the brake circuit looks like to really know too much, but truly sounds like the pedal switch

STOCKTRD said:

Thats a great idea Stock. This would probably be the fastest way to make sure the entire circuit is working properly.

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Sure, assuming the bulbs are fuse are good. :waytogo:

TACOMATruckin98 said:

yeah man, sounds like a brake pedal switch to me, but behind that it'd be a ground issue, no clue what the wiring on the brake circuit looks like to really know too much, but truly sounds like the pedal switch

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The running lights and t/s work, so is probably not an open ground issue.

yeah, like i said, have no clue, never seen a wiring schematic on these trucks to know how powers/grounds are run, so i'm taking bets now on pedal switch haha

TACOMATruckin98 said:

yeah, like i said, have no clue, never seen a wiring schematic on these trucks to know how powers/grounds are run, so i'm taking bets now on pedal switch haha

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The TL bulbs have their own power and ground wires. The ground wires all come together to a single ground circuit at the TL connector. If all the bulbs in both TL (or one side) didn't work, then an open, common ground would be suspect.

tacomo said:

Need some help fellas, brake lights on my truck are geekin out on me. Both tail lights work, turn signals work and reverse lights work but the brake lights dont. I checked the fuse for the brake lights (15A) and it appears to be fine so are the bulbs so now im stumped. Im hoping some of you taco gurus might know what the problem is or maybe im not the only one this has happend to? Its a 2000 2wd single cab non pre-runner. Thanks in advance.

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One more thing, if the 3rd brake light also doesn't work then it is probably the switch.

First off - here (attached) is the 2000 brake light / stop light circuit wiring diagram.

tacomo said:

The third brake light was working for a while when the other two were not but as of now all three are in-op.

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If the third brake light was working while the main ones weren't, the original problem was not the brake pedal switch / sensor. If the switch were shot *none* of the three brake lights would have illuminated at all.

tacomo said:

The third brake light was working for a while when the other two were not but as of now all three are in-op.

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D'oh! Sorry, didn't even see this... :doah:

Enola Gaia said:

If the third brake light was working while the main ones weren't, the original problem was not the brake pedal switch / sensor. If the switch were shot *none* of the three brake lights would have illuminated at all.

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Exactly. :waytogo:

tacomo - Do you have a 12V test light? If you're unable to determine the prob you should get one. Will be a cheap but valuable tool in diagnosing your electrical probs.

i think after looking at the wiring schematics, that if there is only one cause i would have to look firstly at the "3f" junction box, not sure how that is put together, but could very well be a loose connection there, other than that, seeing as how it started off with the rear stop lamps not working then followed by the high mount stop light stopping working, i would have to say that is where i'd start off my check

Well guys it was the brake pedal switch, installed it now the brake light work fine! Thanks for all the help i would have been lost with out it! - Josh

tacomo said:

Well guys it was the brake pedal switch, installed it now the brake light work fine! Thanks for all the help i would have been lost with out it! - Josh

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Cool. Strange how the third was working when the tails weren't. Anyhoo, glad she's fixed.

Stock Taco said:

Cool. Strange how the third was working when the tails weren't. ...

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My guess would be that the switch's contact degraded to the point that enough voltage passed to effectively activate the closer third brake lamp but not the more distant rear brake lamps.

The primary ground point for the third brake light is separate from the primary ground for the rear lights, so there's the chance the third's circuit had less resistance or something ... :thinking: