thedogs

If my lights are off and the ignition is on/car running and I press the brake pedal my gauge lights all come on. Is this some kind of crazy saftey feature? or is that strange loose brown wire in the boot anything to do with it? I thought the brown wire was a ground but when I grounded it it just blew the brake light fuse.
The wire runs into the boot from the passenger side over the wheel arch? any ideas what the wire is?
My brake lights work perfectly.
My rear demister doesn't.
Its not an urgent problem but I'm starting playing with my electrics now and would like any suggestions on how to fix this.
Thanks

Petes 84Z28

One of the 4 brake light bulbs is shorting out and sending power back through the parking light circuit.
Remove one bulb at a time from it's socket, and hit the pedal. When the dash lights don't come on, you've found the bad bulb.

thedogs

Sounds to me like your right. I changed my taillights a while ago but swapped the old bulbs in. Some of the bulbs I noticed where discoloured and cloudy (didn't have enuff spare bulbs at the time)so Its either them or my highlevel brake lights wiring which is a bit ad hoc. Thank you for the pointer.