89 240sx electrical problems

[180fan]

Alrighty here we go again. This time, electrical.

1. It looks like every 6 or 7 months now, I go through one headlight bulb, more specifically the drivers side headlight bulb. The other thing I notice is that when I flip to high beams, the drivers side also takes a second or two to get into high beam. The one side blew out again last night. I started with the AC, stereo, and the blower going.

2. Along those same lines, when I flip the combo switch, sometimes the headlights dont flip up, but the bulbs to light up. When I hit the flip up/flip down button on my console, they flip up and then I can hit the button again to put that switch in the off position and keep my headlights in the up position. They flip back down as normal.

3. My turn signal lights stay on if I plug in the bulbs for the front turn signal lights. Right now my rears are ok. I've already tried replacing the flasher unit (expensive relay!) but that didn't work. I have also replaced the combination switch (the stick that controls the turn signals/lights) and that didn't work either.

When the turn signal is turned on with the exterior lights off, they stay on (for that side switched on with bulbs in).When the turn signal is turned on with the exterior lights on, they click once. However, when the exterior lights are on, the turn signals (all 4) stay on. On the instrument cluster, I'm seeing the left arrow glow more brightly than the right but they stay on.

4. The "brake" light stays on even though the ebrake is disengaged. I also notice at night, the battery light is dimly lighted too. When the car's warmed up, at around 2k rpm, the brake light will buzz and with the buzzing the light will buzz on and off very rapidly.

any ideas? I'm thinking maybe the harness at the front controlling the headlights and turn signals needs to be replaced. Any ideas if that'll fix my combination of problems? I also suspect a ground issue with the "brake" light in the cluster.

[NISTECH]

Head light problem might be a sealing problem with the light housing. the pop up problem is most likely a ground problem with the motors or a relay. The turn signal problem is at one of the turn siganal bulbs it is shorting to the tail light circuit. pull each bulb out of its socket and look at the bulb contacts see if any of them have melted together. The brake light in the dash may be illuminated due to the master cyl level being low on fluid. I doubt the harness is the problem.

[180fan]

The bmc's reservoir is full. Could it be the plug is not getting a good contact with the sensor in the reservior or something related to that? Also why would it make that buzzing sound and the slight illumination of the battery light? This problem's been there ever since I got the car but just recently I've decided to do something about it.

[NISTECH]

it could be the ebrake switch at the base of the ebrake lever. try unpluging it and see if it effects it. may also be an altenator problem with the glow of the battery light but usually its the batery light hotter then the brake light.

[EastCoast240]

A bit of an old thread but I was doing a search and came across this one. I had a fire under the hood yesterday and i'm now having the same buzzing brake light problem.

My brake fluid resivoir melted in the fire and I replaced it but I can't figure out the buzzing.......any ideas??

[EastCoast240]

I checked the handbrake switch and it's fine.

Any ideas?

[onosqv]

Alrighty here we go again. This time, electrical.

4. The "brake" light stays on even though the ebrake is disengaged. I also notice at night, the battery light is dimly lighted too. When the car's warmed up, at around 2k rpm, the brake light will buzz and with the buzzing the light will buzz on and off very rapidly.

Stupid question but: Did you check your brake fluid levels? Mine stayed on because brake fluid levels were low. Just a suggestion, but that's probably not it because you seem to have many electrical problems .

[180fan]

Stupid question but: Did you check your brake fluid levels? Mine stayed on because brake fluid levels were low. Just a suggestion, but that's probably not it because you seem to have many electrical problems .

as posted above a while back, yes the reservoir was full. Nothing that obvious. Me thinks it's a ground in the inside of the console area but for now I've got a bigger problem to deal with.

[EastCoast240]

My resivoir is also full. I don't really care about the brake light but the buzzing is driving me nuts.

Any ideas on what would cause this buzzing??