My wife has a 2003 Honda Civic 4-door. The drivers side brake light does not illuminate when you press the brake pedal. The window and passenger side brake lights do illuminate.

Now when you use the remote entry lock/unlock it will flash. If you start the car remotely the lamp also illuminates, but as soon as put the key in the ignition it shuts off.

The lamp itself is fine, it will work fine on the other side.

I'm not at all familiar with these vehicles but I do have lots of experience working on other cars.

It seems like there must be 2 different paths to the lamp, one via where the remote starter is tied in, and another via the brake pedal switch.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I think the bulb is a dual filament lamp. Which light isn't working? The tail light filament or the actual brake light filament? It sounds like the tail light filament is working. That's the one that flashes when you use the keyless entry. The brake light is the one thats brighter and activated by the pedal.

Did the problem start when you got the remote start installed or did it just start recently?

 

The brake light bulb receptacle gets power from the Wht/Blk wire and ground from the Blk wire. Use a multimeter to check whether the receptacle has a voltage or ground problem.

 

This usually happens when the shell of the bulb is not grounded, because the socket is corroded, etc. Then there is crosstalk between the brake light and the tail light circuits.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys but the lamp I removed, which was the factory original, is a single filament which leads me to believe it is a wiring issue somewhere since the lamp does work under certain conditions.

 

In that case I'd definitely recommend checking the voltage like RonJ said. If there's a voltage irregularity, check the socket itself for any corrosion that might be causing problems.

 

Now that I see this, I am wondering if I removed the right lamp because the symptom I am getting can't possibly happen if it is wired like this. I will double check tonight.

 

So it turns out I pulled the wrong lamp. Thanks for the help guys.