My 2009 accord sedan no longer has the left and right brake lights. The center light is working. What I've done to test thus far:

• Removed connector from back of switch on pedal arm, jumpered red to green to provide power to brake light circuit
• removed connector from brake light on driver side, tested for voltage with fluke meter - no voltage registered when grounded to grounding bolt or to any other grounding surface
• removed connector from brake light on passenger side, tested for voltage with fluke meter - no voltage registered when grounded to grounding bolt or any other grounding surface
• since the center light is working, I'm not that concerned about the switch or the fuse - but I checked the 20 amp fuse under the hood anyway. Replaced and condition same
• removed grounding bolt, checked ground wires. Since no voltage registers at the connectors not concerned about ground - just wanted to be sure ground is good
• swapped left and right bulbs to center to verify condition - both bulbs good

So - where should I look in the harness between the switch and the brake lights for the bad connection? It seems like there must be a common failure identified after 11 years

Thanks!

 

Haven't read about this type of failure on this forum. What wire color are you probing to test for voltage when the brake pedal is pushed?

You should follow the wire harness from the taillight in the trunk to look for any signs of rubbing through the plastic casing.

Was any work done on the car near the back seat or the trunk?

 

Thanks for the reply. The positive on the brake lights is a llight blue lead. The bumper facia in the rear was replaced in October, but the lights and sheet metal were undamaged. My 1st theory was that they mucked up the ground, but it's a no voltage issue.. Just going off my own experience, I suspect there's a plug in the harness where the center light branches off. That "Y" might be where a loose connector is causing the problem. The harness goes down the middle of the trunk and disappears under the rear seat, so I guess I'll be popping out all the plastic panel pins and probing for 12v along the harness.

 

I pulled the seat back and driver side bolster off and got to where the center light split from the main harness. There was crimped junction and the wire to side brake lights had pulled loose. I thought they wire was blue when I looked at them with my trouble light. but looking at them in the day light the actual color is light green with a silver dash. Anyway - all is good now and the seats and trunk liner are all back in place. Glad I joined this forum - it's great to have folks to bounce these issues off of.

thanks!

 

Glad you found your problem, and posted up the solution. I'm also glad it was an easy fix.