Brake lights

I have a 2002 Windstar. The brake lights arte now staying on after the car has been shut off and sitting for hours. THis has caused my battery to go dead twice now.

Why would the brake lights saty on. I am checking the brakelight relay but it looks to be in good shape (no corrosion, opens and closes when I try it manually).

ANy help would be greatly appreciated.
Sean

Normally, there is a plunger switch near the top of the brake pedal arm. When pedal is up, it pushes the plunger in and opens the circuit - no brake light. When pedal is depressed, plunger comes out and closes the circuit - brake light on.

Try pulling up on the pedal - light go off? Switch may have slid away from pedal arm. See if you can push the plunger in - lights go off?

Or switch is broken in the closed postion.

Now, the above is for 95 -98 Winny but may still apply.

Which brake lights are on? Is it only the high center one in the rear door? If that is the case you can pull the bulbs from that one until you replace the REM which could have failed and not removed the ground from these bulbs. If the side lights are on or all of them, then the switch could be the culprit.

The reasoning for this is that a REM (Remote Electronic Module) that supplies grounding to a whole bunch of stuff in the power doors, lights, brake lights, etc. It senses the brake light switch position and then makes the ground to the brake lights. The side brake lights are on one circuit through that REM and the high center brake lights are on another circuit through that same REM. Those high center bulbs are wired directly to the battery and when the REM applies the ground, they are lit. If it fails to remove the ground, they will stay lighted and run your battery down. Removing the bulbs will remove the drain on the battery until you can replace the REM provided that nothing else has a ground that is connected to the battery.

Jim