This is a new one to me...brake lights stay lit all the time until I step on the pedal and then they turn off! Reversed polarity? I replaced the brake light switch about a year ago.

As you know if the switch is tightened up too far from the point of pedal contact it'll stay permanently on just like when you step on the pedal. Not sure what's up the other way but I'm sure a visual will tell you. The bracket is slotted so you can position it so the round nub is compressed (no continuity/brake lite off) with your foot off of the pedal at rest and you want it where you move the pedal a very slight bit for continuity. The pink wire is the hot wire (just remember "hot pink") so dont inadvertently ground it & waste a fuse.

If I had to guess, I'd say your ground is no good back there, and somehow power is getting to the ground side of the brake light circuit at the taillight harness (perhaps through a bad turn signal switch). When you step on the brake pedal, the power to the ground side is canceling the power from the brake pedal/turn signal switch.

I'd try first disconnecting the connector at the left kick panel and putting a test light on the appropriate terminals (in the dash harness side of connector) as determined from the FSM.

Then also checking the harness from there back with a 12V jumper from the BATT or ACC terminal on the fuse block. See if the lights behave properly...

so should I first remove the turn signal switch to rule that out?

I would first disconnect one of the leads on the brake pedal switch to eliminate that as a problem.

I suppose it's possible that the brake light switch has failed in some sort of manner that the switch is shorted and when the brake is applied, somehow the short is eliminated, making the brake lights go out.

With the brake light switch disconnected, check to see that the turn signals work normally, and the hazards work normally. If not, the problem is probably not the brake light switch, but somewhere downstream (turn signal switch, kick panel harness, taillight harness, ground at taillights, sockets, etc.)

My guess is that with the brake lights wacky, one or more of the turn signals are wacky, too.

You didn't make any wiring changes recently, did you?

I got lucky, it was the switch itself-somehow it broke off the mounting bracket and was wedged up against the top of the pedal rod so that the plunger was all the out when the pedal was not pushed in. My local Advance had one in stock and is now working fine.

Thanks for the help though, now I'll know what to look for if my lights ever go nuts like that