87 Daytona T-Top Dash/Tail Light Issue

Howdy All -

After swapping the wiring harness for the motor and the dash, I've come upon an electrical conundrum that I could use some help with.

Obviously with the battery disconnected, nothing works... surprise.

When you connect the battery, everything seems normal... no extra lights on inside the car, no door chimes when they aren't wanted, etc...

BUT!!!

Start the car everything works fine. Digital dash powers up and reads correctly, trip-o-meter works, interior lighting, and even the stereo works.

Turn the car off and pull the key out, the digital dash stays lit with just the outlines of the speedo/tach and the brake lights are stuck on.

I let the car sit for about 5 minutes thinking maybe there is power being stored in some hidden capacitors that I am unaware of, but I've been looking for missing grounds or missing connectors, and i cant find much of anything....

Any ideas?


-Daytuna

I'm just going to take a guess at this, 1st check if the hazard or turn signal was left on. 2nd, try disconnecting the turn signal switch. Do the brake lights go off with the dash after 5 mins?

the 87-9digital dash has a trip triggered by the outside door handle if your car has lighted entry

I don't know if any other door switches trip it or if maybe it's just the door open dome lamp circut that trips it but did you have the door still open

if not then something in the interior lighting is tripping the cluster to light up like that

Marc and Dr thank you!

A combo of the two ideas fixed it! The digital dash was being triggered by the door switch, but I never knew the tail lights would stay on as well.

I replaced all of the bulbs in the tail light and magic!

When the digidash goes off, the brake lights go off.

Thanks for the help guys!

-Daytuna