88 245 brake light/defogger issue

So I spent the day yesterday cleaning out a bunch of junk from the wagon. I had the hatch open for a while. After spending like an hour and a half getting everything out of the car, I hopped in and noticed the defogger turned on when I pressed the brake. There was no key in the car. At first I thought maybe this was something I never noticed before, but when I turned the car on, it continued to do so. I removed the relay for the defogger so that it doesn?t stay on every time I press the brake, but now about half the times I press the brake, the power isn?t sent through to the center brake light, but instead to the defogger. When I look on the rear view I can see if the center brake light comes on, and the times I press the brake and it doesn?t come on, I look at my defogger switch and it?s illuminated. When the center light is illuminated, the defogger switch is not. All my grounds in the rear ?seem? ok but something must be out of wack. Not sure how or where to check so any guidance would be much appreciated as this new issue seems to be putting a small draw on the battery when the vehicle is off, as when I started it this morning after letting it sit all night, it cranked for a few seconds longer than normal.

245s have wiring harnesses that run through the left and right hinges of your tailgate, and after years of opening and closing, the wiring either breaks or shorts (what you are experiencing). You need to either replace the hinges/wiring assemblies, or make your own wiring harness to circumvent the factory wiring.

KwikBrik245 said:

245s have wiring harnesses that run through the left and right hinges of your tailgate, and after years of opening and closing, the wiring either breaks or shorts (what you are experiencing). You need to either replace the hinges/wiring assemblies, or make your own wiring harness to circumvent the factory wiring.

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I have already replaced the tailgate harness on both sides with a new harness about 2 months ago.

Mstrshkbrnnn said:

I have already replaced the tailgate harness on both sides with a new harness about 2 months ago.

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I got nothin then lol

Mstrshkbrnnn said:

I have already replaced the tailgate harness on both sides with a new harness about 2 months ago.

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I had the same experience with my car's driver side harness. I ended up just running new wire through the headliner into the hole at the top of the tailgate. Some woven, non-split wire sleeve (fastened with zip-tie on each end) made it look fairly presentable. If my headliner wasn't already garbage I'd have put a grommet in the headliner and tucked away the zip-ties more. The sleeve is stiff enough that it naturally keeps itself away from any pinch points.

Unfortunately if you want to keep the original "clean" look there's nothing for it but another new harness, or at least disassembling and rewiring the existing one.

So, when you replaced the wiring harness in the tailgate. Did you replace or repair the ground wires that pass through the hinge? You can't see them until you remove the hinge. Bad ground equals weird circuit operation.

dl242gt said:

So, when you replaced the wiring harness in the tailgate. Did you replace or repair the ground wires that pass through the hinge? You can't see them until you remove the hinge. Bad ground equals weird circuit operation.

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+1

I forgot to mention that also.