Monaco Exec light above engine compartment

[philcarrell]

Yesterday after parking from driving all day in the rain noticed the red light above the engine compartment was on.  All switches in MH are off.  I drove home today in rain again.  Both days I had lights turned on due to rain. The light is about 12 inches long and 1 inch high.  I have tried to find a way to turn it off, no luck.  Do anyone have an idea as to what causes it to stay on and how can I turn it off?

[Dr4Film]

That is your "third Brake" Light. It should be accessible from the engine compartment. Appears you have a gremlin active in your coach.

[philcarrell]

I will try to get to it tomorrow.  I think you are right about gremlins

[Dennis H]

Phil, it's wired in series with your tail lights. Simply follow the wire down to where it connects. Mine connects on the passenger's side. Open the connection and clean it well. Use compressed air in case there's water intrusion causing the short. Worst case replace the wires...Dennis

[philcarrell]

Thanks Dennis, will check that today.  Had not thought about it being wired to main brake lights.  Should be the blue wires.

[Rocketman3]

I wonder if that happened on my rig?

Mine has never worked…

a few days ago I pulled out a plastic air deflector and found the wires were neatly cut. 
 

I recrimped them and now the light works- we will see if it works too well.

[philcarrell]

I tracked the wire from the fixture down to a bunch of wires going into a lot of wire looms.  At this point i made a command decision.   3  options, continue taking everything apart which could take hours, leave the light on, or make it go out.  I decided 2 brakes lights were enough did not need 3 lights, so just cut the positive wire and bingo no more light.  I'm not sure anyone could track that wire to where it spliced into main brake wire.  It was not at taillight fixture.  I'm usually not a quitter but I threw in the white towel on this one.

[Ivan K]

I wasn't gonna comment because of the years difference but my third light (marked in charts as cyclops) is controlled directly from the same relay as the main brake lights. That's the only common point for them. I only know that because I installed a flasher for the 'cyclops '.

[Tom Cherry]

On 10/29/2023 at 6:55 PM, Dr4Film said:

That is your "third Brake" Light. It should be accessible from the engine compartment. Appears you have a gremlin active in your coach.

FWIW....  CYCLOPS....  Chuckle....If one circulated in the Fed Transportation arena...many years ago.....one would know that the most COMMON name for the Third Brake Light was know "Liddy Light"....a moniker coined after the driving force behind it. A long term Senator, once a Presidential candidate....who some say was best known for his EDS commercials...I THINK,  was married to Elizabeth.  She called herself, Liddy.  She was appointed as Secretary of the Transportation Department....also the first Female Secretary.

https://transportationhistory.org/2017/03/23/women-in-transportation-history-elizabeth-dole-1st-female-us-transportation-secretary/#:~:text=Dole also strongly championed the,known as “Liddy Lights.”

I skimmed this....so it is a "historical fact".  It did not delved into the backstory.  She championed it, despite, several high ranking GM executives and others, even within her own agency, were amazed at it becoming an FMVSS standard...despite the fact that no formal study had been done to calculate or estimate or hypothesize on it's effectiveness in reducing deaths, injuries and accidents. OR, that was what I was told by an Ex HR Dealer GM, who also had a large Chevy dealership and was on several steering committees as a "Dealer Rep" for GM and was involved in the GM resurrection of the Camaro....  So, I think he was trustworthy...

 

[Ray Davis]

12 hours ago, philcarrell said:

I tracked the wire from the fixture down to a bunch of wires going into a lot of wire looms.  At this point i made a command decision.   3  options, continue taking everything apart which could take hours, leave the light on, or make it go out.  I decided 2 brakes lights were enough did not need 3 lights, so just cut the positive wire and bingo no more light.  I'm not sure anyone could track that wire to where it spliced into main brake wire.  It was not at taillight fixture.  I'm usually not a quitter but I threw in the white towel on this one.

You could possibly run into problems getting a state inspection without the light.  I would splice a wire onto the one you cut and splice it to one of your stoplights.

[georgecederholm]

12 hours ago, Ivan K said:

I wasn't gonna comment because of the years difference but my third light (marked in charts as cyclops) is controlled directly from the same relay as the main brake lights. That's the only common point for them. I only know that because I installed a flasher for the 'cyclops '.

I wasn't going to comment for a similar reason: on our 2005 Exec, all three rear brake lights (and I suppose the trailer harness wiring as well, are controlled from a relay. I found out about this when none of the brake lights would turn off. Since Phil's issue is only with one of them, I figured my issue was different. On the other hand, if his has multiple relays involved, perhaps only one is stuck.

[philcarrell]

WE don't have state inspections, but will consider doing this.

[Paul J A]

On 10/30/2023 at 8:26 AM, philcarrell said:

Thanks Dennis, will check that today.  Had not thought about it being wired to main brake lights.  Should be the blue wires.

Mine was on our 07 Executive too.

On 11/1/2023 at 6:50 AM, Tom Cherry said:

FWIW....  CYCLOPS....  Chuckle....If one circulated in the Fed Transportation arena...many years ago.....one would know that the most COMMON name for the Third Brake Light was know "Liddy Light"....a moniker coined after the driving force behind it. A long term Senator, once a Presidential candidate....who some say was best known for his EDS commercials...I THINK,  was married to Elizabeth.  She called herself, Liddy.  She was appointed as Secretary of the Transportation Department....also the first Female Secretary.

https://transportationhistory.org/2017/03/23/women-in-transportation-history-elizabeth-dole-1st-female-us-transportation-secretary/#:~:text=Dole also strongly championed the,known as “Liddy Lights.”

I skimmed this....so it is a "historical fact".  It did not delved into the backstory.  She championed it, despite, several high ranking GM executives and others, even within her own agency, were amazed at it becoming an FMVSS standard...despite the fact that no formal study had been done to calculate or estimate or hypothesize on it's effectiveness in reducing deaths, injuries and accidents. OR, that was what I was told by an Ex HR Dealer GM, who also had a large Chevy dealership and was on several steering committees as a "Dealer Rep" for GM and was involved in the GM resurrection of the Camaro....  So, I think he was trustworthy...

 

Bob and Liddy Dole.