LEFT turn signal lights when brake

[DRuteki]

Hi everyone,
Just joined, recently switched to a Toyota after using Nissans for the last decade. I have a cherry 94 T100 4x4, 5 speed, w/ aftermarket alloys and 31x10.5 All Terrains. Nice old truck.
My question is: when I brake, the left turn signals light up, including the dash light. Turn signals both work, except the left one won't flash when I touch the brake. Checked wires, haven't found anything yet, no fuses blown, bulbs good. A friend suggested that it may be the turn signal switch inside the steering column. Funny, I just did the same fix on my IH Scout last year. I'm not interested, or qualified, in working on an airbag equiped truck. Does this sound like the problem?
Thanks!
Chad Mayerhofer

[CraigW]

I would clean up and re-connect the ground for the left side. It may look good but not working properly.

[Rycam]

A friend of mine at work has an 1986 Toyota 4x4, and the dash lights would light up if the brake pedal was pressed. The problem was tracked down to a screw that punctured a wire harness when an aftermarket stereo was installed!

[Gremlin76]

I too have the same problem. Put on brake, left turn light comes on. The other night all of the dash lights flashed whenever the turn light would flash. Looked over all the wires I could find, sockets and fuses. Guess I will just replace all of the bulbs and see if that makes a difference.


Looks like a pretty common problem with the toyota's. I came here looking for a solution to it and found many threads dedicated to this problem with just one search.

[santrap53]

I experienced a similar problem with the front running lights and dash lights coming on when the brake pedal was pressed. After a lot of checking, it turned out to be both rear brake light bulbs were bad. Replaced them and the problem went away. Good luck.

[nikita]

I agree with CraigW. Bad grounds have caused this kind of problem for me on several cars and trucks over the years. Because the body, not a separate wire, is used for the return path to the battery, the turn signal filament can end up completing the circuit.