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That's a classic. I bet a cold one it's a wagon and the tailgate harness (probably both harnesses) has or have cracked. The wires in the harness are shorting together "backfeeding" one circuit from another circuit.
For example, the juice going to the license plate lights (which are part of the parking light circuit) is cross-feeding to the rear defroster circuit. When the parking lights are on, the the defroster timed relay is "backfed" power and the indicator light illuminates.
Sometimes the wipers get involved and weird things happen, such as stepping on the brakes cause the wipers to sweep, or turning on the rear wipers causes the car to drive to the local pub for a cold one.......
Keep in mind that five separate circuits feed through those two hinge harnesses: - Brake lights
- Rear wipers
- Defroster
- Power locks
- Parking 'n license plate lights
Plus ground.
Can you imagine what happens when you intermingle those circuits? Consider that the brake light circuit is NOT switched by the ignition, so you could conceivably have the engine powered with your foot on the brakes and the key off.
This is so mind-boggling that you should give up now and donate your car to me.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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