Help. Emergency brake wirirng.

[ryanougrad]

I removed an aftermarket stereo from my car last night and in the process cut the lead wire that was on a harness attached to my emergency brake. When I checked everything last night all worked smoothly. However that wire was bothering me so I looked at the wiring diagram and saw that the wire is supposed to connect to a yellow wire. I did cit this connection. This morning I hooked it up and boom, dash light of death. ABS and VSC on, car won't go in gear. I unhooked the cable and no change.

I think I blew a fuse or two on ABS and traction control. That I can hunt down when I'm home from work. But where does that wire go? Is there even a harness that attaches to the emergency brake or 2 as that an aftermarket install? Ifthere is a harness, is it upposed to have lead and ground. I think I just ended up shorting it by hooking hot up and no ground. My harness doesn't have a grpund, but I haven't pulled the plug yet to see if it's missing.

Any actual photos inside the console of the plug on the e brake will be greatly appreciated. I will put up a photo when 8 have a chance.

 

[ryanougrad]

I was able to get the truck up and running again. One blown fuse and a ECU reset by unplugging the battery and everything is good. However I still have a wire dangling out of the parking brake switch. Funny thing is my dash brake light works perfectly fine when engaging and disengaging the e brake.

So does anyone have a wiring diagram or photo of the wires coming out of the switch?
This is the switch in question and on the end you can see the plug. I have a little plastic plug connected to mine.
Airtex Automotive Division 1S7350 AIRTEX Park Brake Sw

 

[ryanougrad]

Sorry to double post, didn't see an edit option.. I have a 2000 LX470. On theory I have is that the plug is for a truck equipped with navigation, but then why have it on the 2000 model.

 

[LBridges]

Just a guess, but the PO may have run a wire for an aftermarket headunit that had navigation. Those generally require a signal wire from the parking brake. If the unit senses the brake is on then all controls are available, if the brake is off, then only some are available. Inputting navigation data while driving being considered about the same threat level as trying to text while driving.

 

[ryanougrad]

Yeah. This is starting to be my guess. I can find no wiring diagram for the emergency brake near the handle. Though I can find the part linked above, which quite possibly is for cars with navigation. The PO did install navigation so it's a good chance the PO used the tap on the switch as the ground for the Nav. The system also played DVD which would require the same ground . Just want to double check my hunch. I probably just through a nasty short in the system hooking a lead wire to the ground running through the e brake, making the ECU go crazy.

 

[ryanougrad]

Okay. Don't know if anyone is following this but thought I would update my finding. Pulled out my multimeter today and ran a test on the wire coming out of the parking brake switch. When the parking break is engaged the wire sends a 12v signal. When the parking break is off (down) there is no signal. Seems pretty clear this is most likely for a dvd in dash unit so that you can't watch movies when driving.

 

[Abigail]

Similar issue here: yesterday while digging around to install a HAM, I removed a large wiring mess the PO had installed for an afternoon DVD system....

In doing so, pulled out a wire running to the first from the left yellow fuse in pic below:

Now my E-Brake light is constantly on, no effect whether or not the brake is actually engaged. ABS, VSC Trac and VSC OFF lights are also stuck on. Vehicle works fine to drive, though.

Would it make sense to reinsert a wire in that fuse and run it to ground to mimic the prior setup, then chase down to find out if I blew any fuses to ABS etc? I am not an electrician but can follow most advice!

Final removed mess:

Good news is the HAM install went well, so not a total waste of a day...

Any advice would be appreciated!