Honda Repair: 99 Honda Passport Brake Light Problem, honda passport, unseen damage

Question
QUESTION: The Lt. brake light (driver's side) does not work when the headlights are on.  I must have a short between the marker light and the brake circuit.  Do have any suggestions as to where to look first to find the break in the insulation?

ANSWER: Tom, check to see that all repairs recently done to that tail light area have been done properly. Has anyone else done any recent work to your car? Does your Passport have daytime running lamps? Check all bulbs and see if they are working properly. The headlights and the rear tail lights are not even on the same system elctrically. If you can provide me with more details i can possibly guide you in the next area of direction for repair and analysis in a follow-up question.

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QUESTION: But the rear tail light wiring runs in the same bundle as the brake light correct? The tail light works or the brake light works, but not together.  Does that help?

Answer
So have you been replacing bulbs in that area or some body work? If you replaced the bulbs make sure you have used the specific bulb required to directly replace this. Perhaps the new bulbs are bad or reversed or have unseen damage? If a bulb is inserted incorrectly it can cause this too.