Just had a neighbor ring our door bell to tell us the brake lights are on. The only way I could get them to go off was to disconnect the battery. Where should I look?

2000 Máxima SE manual trans. Haven't done anything to the car in a while except drive it. 192K miles.

TIA

Keith

 

You’re probably missing the plastic grommet on the brake pedal. You can get it from the dealer. In the meantime you can use a nut and bolt in it’s place.

 

That's the piece ChrisMan is referring to. It's installed into a hole high up on the brake pedal arm, and that rubber pad bumps up against the brake switch when the brake pedal is released. As soon as the pedal starts to travel, it loses contact with that switch telling the brake lights to turn on. Very common issue with our cars at this age - I replaced both my brake and clutch pedal stoppers but really anything will do (I duct taped a penny to the pedal for a short term fix).

 

I used a nut and bolt on my clutch pedal but got the actual grommet for brake and gas pedal....

 

Thanks, everyone. This morning after it got light, looked on the front floor mat and found the remnants of the stopper down here. My son crawled under the dash (my back doesn't bend the same way it did 20 years ago) and confirmed that part was missing. Have a new one on order from Amazon for delivery tomorrow, so should be good to go after that.

Appreciate all the help!!!

Keith

 

Got the replacement part, and after some under dash contortions, got it fitted and fixed the problem. Thanks to all that responded and guided me through this. I think this car is going to last forever. I'm 62, and this car is the one I've owned the longest (coming up on 23 years), and for the most miles ( pushing 192K).

Keith

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed, Keith.

192k is great, but quit easy to achieve for a well made Japanese car. Many Maxima owners have report 400k+ miles...

 

LtLeary in the 7th gen forum is at half a million.

 

Hoping mine is one of those that lasts this long, although, with the miles it is getting driven now, will take 30+ years to get that far. Not sure I will be around that long, lol!!! Just wanting it to last until my youngest gets out of college and I no longer need a third car. Of course, maybe he will take it over and keep it for that much longer, but my guess is that the first real job he gets with a real paycheck and he will be buying something new or newer to drive.