Lights acting funky on my Legacy

[sopdadope]

Hey guys. I've had my '98 Legacy LS for a year and half now. Ever since I purchased it from the previous owner, I've noticed that the brake lights are always on when I switch the headlights on. Additionally, the hazard lights are always on too, not blinking, but just turned on.

I took a look at the wiring, and it looks like some numbskull disconnected the wires to the brake light on the rear spoiler and wired it up to the high-mount, decklid light instead.

Because of this, my car wouldn't pass a safety inspection so if anyone has any info. to help me out, it'd be greatly appreciated.

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[Al_Smokemcrack]

As I recall, there's a relay for those. Maybe your excited-to-rewire numbstick did something that fused it closed.

EDIT: My Haynes book's wiring schematic uses the same symbol for relays as for switches (thanks, guys). However, the one for the brake lights is labelled "STOP/BRAKE SWITCH" while there's other things that are called "(Something) RELAY," so I'm guessing now that there's not a brake light relay.

I am 95% sure, however, that there's also a blinker-element that makes the hazards blink similar to the one that operates the turn signals. Since you mentioned that the hazards are "on all the time," it's possible that the blinker-element fused shut. It happens fairly regularly when they fail as they get pretty hot.

[sopdadope]

Thanks for the quick response! I'll check it out as soon as the weather permits, and then I'll post a follow-up. Thanks!