1989 244, start changing what I thought were some burned out taillight bulbs and after screwing around finally realized it was a burnt out fuse. After more swapping of bulbs etc. and another blown fuse from not turning the key off once got everything all lit up... and then some. I finally got all of the bulbs and fuse replaced all looks good, except now when you turn on the lights the brakes lights are lit up, with the lights off and pressing the brakes lights up both rear AND front running lights, as well as the brake lights.

Any possible ideas on how this got so screwed up? Everything is back to the way it was, with the replaced blown fuse the only real mishap along the way. Is something crossed on one of the POS PCB's, and if so how do you trace/undo it?

Double check for the correct bulbs in the correct locations. I have seen wrong style bulbs in the wrong locations feed back into circuits and cause what you are getting.

That was my first thought - when you install a single-filiment bulb into a double-filiment holder, you'll get this sort of thing. I don't think the later 244s have any double-filiment sockets though, so that's out.

But yeah, you've got a wire trace somewhere between the brake lights and the parking lights. I don't know if a bad bulb out relay can do this?

Interesting, thanks guys. I should add one other oddity I forgot about that I will look at first. One of the front running lights was out so I bought a new bulb, but it still wouldn't light. I pulled the contact back out to ensure it was contacting the bulb and still nothing. For S&G I moved the signal bulb up and it lit!!! So I put the new bulb (both 1157's so dual filaments) in the signal position and both lit, moved to the back of the car and started on them.

This may not be it but it sure sounds like a possibility, thanks much for the quick replies, I'll update my progress.

Well that was relatively easy. The front running/signals was a red herring as they are both lighting up now with 1157's as per the owners manual. Not sure why they spec a dual filament bulb for the running light that only ever runs one?

The problem was the rear running/brake light bulb holder, thanks once again to craptermarket scamtech junk. The 2 prongs were touching one another as they contacted the bulb creating a running/brake light circuit. I had tried another bulb holder and everything was good so got looking at the original white holder and saw the problem.

Thanks for the quick responses guys, much appreciated.

Glad you got it. Was going to say this is a classic short to positive, particularity If things start working when you don't want them to. Boy electrical diagnosis is fun!