Brake light issue returns

[Dino]

When I got my car back after the winter, the ds brake lights did not work.  A week or so later the car all of a sudden got some more issues, turned out the battery was dying and as soon as the new one went in, the brake lights were fixed.   

Today I'm standing at a red light and the guy behind me gets out and tells me the ds brake light is out....

Got home, traced the green wire to the connector behind the kickpanel, fiddled around with it a bit and the lights went on...and back out, and that was that.  The good news is, the break is not bertween kickpanel and taillights as there's no pwer going into the connector.  The bad news is that it's behind the dash...

Before I rip the whole thing apart, is there a 12 volt current tester available that I can hold against the insulator to see if it's flowing?  I know they exist for house wiring and I realize this is a bit different but I thought I'd ask.  My best guess, I nicked the wire while installing and reinstalling my instrument cluster so many times.  I tried jumping the brown and green wire, brown being ps brake lights, which fixed the brakes but also turned my turn signal into four way flashers so that didn't go as planned.   

Bit by bit I;m learning all this stuff.  To me body work is easy because I did it every day for what seemed like an eternity, but this electrical and mechanical stuff?   Pfffffftt what the hell man!   

[Fred]

Been there, done that.  I learnt it all when I restored mine. I did all of the work myself from pulling it apart to putting it back together. I learnt as I went and enjoyed the whole process. I know it all now.

[Dino]

It's teaching me alright!  I looked at the wiring diagram and found the dark green wire going from the ds taillights to the kickpanel connectore up into the turn signal switch.  Is that the switch in the steering column? 

[Chargermoneypit]

I too am looking for the same answer. I just finished putting it all back together and everything worked perfect in the brake lights and signal department and now the driver side turn signal and brake light do not work. They light up with the headlights on but still no brake light or turn signal. I checked behind the kick panel and the body harness that runs the channel and there is no power at the coneector to the left bank but a test light works on the right signals. The front signal works. I am stumped too and started pulling the cluster out again and farted with that too. I thought it was the violet colored wire for the left bank. Damn gremlins! Count me in on the thread for any help too.

[BubbaDuke]

I too had a problem similar.  For some reason my driver side brake lights didn't work.  Found out it is the turn signal switch that is under the steering wheel.  Since at the time that I had the problem i didn't have the money to replace the switch, I just ended up wiring the driver side lights into the passenger side brake lights.  So now I got brake lights but can't use my blinkers, cause when i do they both come on and it looks like I have my hazards on.

[Fred]

You could have a bad earth connection but most likely it's the turn signal switch which is located in the steering column.