El Capitan Brake Wiring

[Steve D.]

Question for the knowledgeable people out there. I picked up an old El Capitan and am trying to fix it up. It had dead batteries all around, so got new ones. The rear lights (brake/tail) weren't working and the fixtures were rotted out, so I put new ones on. The brakes are lighting dim all the time, even with everything shut off. They do light bright when the pedal is depressed. I did a voltage check and the brake wire is 12V when the pedal is depressed and 9V when it isn't. Before I start tracing, does anybody have an idea of why I might have voltage on the line when they should be zero?

[Bike Dr]

Check and make sure you have a good ground.. then if that's good make sure it's not pulling power from the running light side as a lot of coaches run a duel bulb for brake and running lights. Make sure the running light are off and test it again. Hope this helps a little with limited info on your particular model coach

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[Steve D.]

My apologies, it is an '88 Gulfstream El Capitan. I unplugged the brake switch and both sides of it are hot. I was trying to think of what might be cross connecting on the outside of the brake switch and the only thing I could come up with, was a possible fault in the cruise control. I can't think of anything else that would be connected on that side of the switch.
This all came about because the plastic light housings in the back of the coach were rotted away, so I bought replacements and was wiring them. The yellow wire (I believe) is the brake light wire and I have it hanging open, so it isn't anything in the fixture providing the voltage. I'm going back out today to see if I can isolate it any further.

[RY469]

I would disconnect the new "replacements" and test/verify each wire going to them with a meter (as I turned on/off the running lights, hit the brakes, etc). You may simply be back feeding and are missing appropriate grounds (Like Bike Dr said). Then you can determine correct connection of the new replacements, or determine you need a different style.

My 2-cents.

[Steve D.]

Thanks Chief,
That was the first thing I did and couldn't understand why I would have 12v on the yellow wire with the brake depressed and 9v with them released. I was able to figure it out this morning, the cruise control module is bad. I unplugged it and the lights work as they should. Now I have to figure out what to do with the cruise control.