Brake light issue

[dakota814]

I go to get in the car and drive away I come to a stop sign an the guy behind me says I don't have brake lights, the just center light in the window. And when I let off the breaks my brake lights come alive. I'm stumped to this as I'm not good at wiring anything but that's just how the car came. Tried the parking light switch on top of the steering wheel and switching my head lights on and off. I don't get it. Please help! 1997 Subaru impreza 1.8 coupe

[johnceggleston]

some times multi-filament bulbs (brake / tail light combos)

will create really weird situations.

i would remove the rear bulbs the bulbs one at a time until the lights work correctly.

you may need a helper,

or a large glass store front to use as a mirror.

 

or it may be a wiring problem.

Edited July 17, 2015 by johnceggleston

[Cougar]

I assume the lights that are turning on when you release the brake pedal are really the running lights and not the brake lights. Since the middle brake lights seem to be working okay we will assume the power to the lights is good. The problem is with the ground for the lights. To see if that is correct tie a jumper wire between a known good ground point like the negative battery post and connect the other end to the ground side of the brake light connector. If the lights now work you have proved the ground return for the lights has a bad connection to ground. 

[Fairtax4me]

Have you tried just changing the bulbs? If both brake filaments have burned out this is exactly what you get.