Restoring Rusty

[kipps]

You asked about that tan/white brake wire a few posts up. I was tracing that one out myself recently. Obviously, the brake light is fed with an ignition hot, then the ground splits and goes three ways.

#1, the brake proportioning valve on the front crossmember. This grounds out the light(thus illuminating it) if the brake pressure is wildly different between the front and back brakes.

#2, the parking brake pedal. This grounds and illuminates the light if the parking brake is applied.

#3, The light also grounds out in the crank position of the key switch(I think I'm right on this). This way, you can see if the light is working while starting the vehicle. If the light does not illuminate, the bulb or wiring is blown. Our Virginia state inspection is supposed to(not saying they do) check for the presence/absence of that light. They want to see it illuminate during startup, but go out immediately after. Other states may be similar.