1991 Camry - No brake lights

[disturbed1]

Hi..

I searched your archives about no brake lights on my GF's 91 Camry and found an article that was some what helpful to me as a person that doesnt work on cars but does have some common sense, but I thought that if I gave a little more info that maybe someone could help me get closer to the solution.

I got a lot of info from drugal who wrote this post:

No brake light

I am hoping that with some more info someone could help me get closer to the solution. Heres some observations I made after reading that post:

1) All lights in the rear work except the brake lights. The tail, turn signal, side markers, and the license plate lights are working.

2) I did a visual inspection of the wire harnesses and wires that move with the trunk lid, also I followed all visable wiring in the trunk. No splices or obvious repairs seem to have been made. All seems to be in great condition.

3) About 1 year ago when my GF bought the car, the brake lights didnt work. The owner said he thought that it was the brake switch so I replaced it and the lights have worked for the last year till now. I did a visual inspection on the switch and checked the nut that holds it in place was still tight, checked that the switch engaged at the proper time, and also listened for the switch to engage and disengage when the pedal was pressed and let go. All seems to be working in properly, and the visual inspection was good.

4) For the last 2 weeks we noticed that the rear lamp warning indicator on the dash board has been flickering at times.

With this info, can the possible trouble areas be narrowed down?

Thanks for any help possible. If we were in a situation where we could just put it in the shop and not worry to much about the cost, we would, but were not.
.

[disturbed1]

.
just in case this helps in any way towards looking for a solution to the problem above... the car its self and all visiable wiring through are in what appears to be great condition. The car has always lived in sunny southern california, it was never salvaged, and overall it appears that it was well taken care of.

[new echo owner]

If you have a test light or meter check for power for the brake lights at the light failure sensor. This maybe of some help to you: http://www.autozone.com/shopping/rep...00c152801cce2c, figure 19.

Post any further question you may have.

N.E.O.

[disturbed1]

.
Heres an update...

I took off the left inside panel inside the trunk looking for a yellow box that i read was the light failure sensor. I did not find any yellow box on that side but I did find that the bottom of the trunk had 2 inches of water in it probably from the rain we just had a couple days ago. Sitting at the bottom of this water was the trailer light extension cord (put in by uhaul) and the plug end itself was total under water and terminal ends wet and dirty. I cleaned it up the best I could but still no brake lights. Now I am thinking this must be the cause of the brake lights not working, but as I said I am no mechanic. Should I just cut off the trailer lights plug and wrap the wires securely apart? or did is this just a smoke screen taking me away from the real possible problem?
.

[new echo owner]

Electrical wiring submerged in water is not good, regardless of whether that is the cause of your problem or not, you should take the trailer harness off if you are not using it.

N.E.O.

[nuron]

On mine, it was the yellow box in the left panel of the trunk that was the problem.