electrical / lights problem

My 95 escort wagon starts and drives pretty well but has an electrical/lights problem. When I press on the brakes, the instrument panel lights go on, as well as the front signal lights. When I turn the lights on, the brake lights go on also, without me having to press on the brake pedal. When I press on the brakes, a clicking noise comes from underneath the auto trans shift console. Could it be related to whatever lets the transmission know that I'm pressing the brakes, so I can shift? Or a wire? A fuse? Thanks in advance.

Have there been any changes to the original wiring?
Check around the steering column to see if the wiring harness has been worn through.
Check plugs for melted, burned connections.

I checked around the steering column and it looks nice and clean. I don't think there's been any changes to the original wiring. The plugs look fine and the visible wires in the engine look fine.
I spoke to a person that knows a bit about cars and he says the multi-function switch may be bad. This is where the lights and the signal lights are turned on. It costs $339 at autozone. Not sure what to do...

It will cost a lot less than that at a junk yard... should be easy to find.... assuming that is your problem.

There was either work done on the car that got the wiring messed up or a compnent in the circuit is screwed... and if you are convinced no work was done, then it should be easy to narrow things down. Get yourself a Haynes manual and look at the wiring diagrams in the back... see where all these things are connected at.

Sounds like some wires are missing some insulation and feeding into each others circuits. Raise the rear hatch on your wagon and look where the wires go from the body to the hatch door. Pull the rubber plug (grommet) where the wires go in to the body and see what they look like. Mine were all messed up. Had to splice the wires back together and tape them up. Or it can also be the wiring between the hatch and body. The flexing from opening and closing the doors makes the wiring get tired and fall apart. I don't think the brake lights go through the multi function switch so I don't think that is the problem

Thanks for the tips. I put on-hold buying the multi-function switch. I want to check all the wiring first but so far, all the wiring I've checked looks fine. I am still driving the car but not at night (don't want to get rear ended - when the lights are on, the brake lights stays on).

Is this a car that you just bought? Have you recently changed your tailight bulbs? Many moons ago I bought a Malibu SS that did the same thing as your car. The problem was that the previous owner had put single contact bulbs in the tailights instead of double contact bulbs. If someone uses an 1156 bulb instead of an 1157 bulb the single contact on the base of the bulb can complete a connection between the tailights and the brake lights. That is why the dash lights up when you step on the brakes.
I sometimes see cars on the road that turn on the front parking lights when they step on the brakes. Maybe this will help. Good Luck.

Leatherhead

Check to see if the tail light bulbs are the correct ones. I once bought a car and it had exactly the same symptoms. It turned out that the tail light bulbs were wrong. A single contact bulb can be forced into a double contact socket and will connect the tail lights to the brake lights. That is what causes the brake pedal to energize the dash lights and the front parking lights.
I hope this info is useful to you...
Leatherhead

Did you check what I mentioned? If the tail light wire touches the brake wire then this will happen. It happened to me. Bulb should be 1157. Not 1156.

I've had the car for about a year without any electrical problems. I checked the bulbs and they look fine but I will get new ones, the 1157. I don't know if I have the 1156. By the way, the brake lights now do not work at all. I didn't do anything. I've been taking the bus. I now press the brakes and nothing happens, no brake lights and no dashboard lights. All the lights work well (except the brakes) when I turn them on manually. Like I said, I am going to go the cheaper way first and change all the bulbs.

I think the problem is fixed. I really love this forum and you guys are the best. It seems that I was driving for a year with a bulb 1157 and a 2057 for brake lights. Something must have happened in the past few weeks. When I took them out, they both looked kind of black but the filaments were intact. Nevertheless, I changed both with fresh 1157's and it is now working fine. I am afraid of doing the victory dance, since the car was acting so strangely, but I think it's fixed. Thanks again.

ok i have a questiong about my 93' escort...when i turn on my headlights my tail lights and brake lights wont work...yet if i turn off the headlights my breaklights work.... and im not quite sure how to fix it cause i dont want to be driving around at night and get mushed.. :p:disappoin