Need help with electrical issue: taillights
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 245
Likes: 2
From: Hope Indiana
Need help with electrical issue: taillights
I hate electrical issues....
Here's the situation. Left hand brake light ONLY works when right hand turn signal is on. The right hand brake light works EXCEPT when the left hand turn signal is on. Taillights, sidemarkers, all seem normal.
My initial thought was a ground issue. I cleaned the chassis ground from the lights, and all four taillight ground studs as best I could. Checked continuity between all four grounds and chassis... everything was checked out. Problem still exists.
So I went in to borrow my wife's foot (apparently her mouth is attached to her foot, so I had to listen to her gripe as well) to operate the brake pedal while I played around with moving the bulbs in the sockets, swapping bulbs around, changing out bulbs, etc. Same problem still exists.
So I'm down to scratching my head. I did find some Bubbafied wiring on the license plate lamp, which I'm going to correct next. I don't think this is part of the issue though. Should I switch out turn signal flashers as well? I can't understand how that could be the problem, but it's cheap and easy.
Any other suggestions??
Here's the situation. Left hand brake light ONLY works when right hand turn signal is on. The right hand brake light works EXCEPT when the left hand turn signal is on. Taillights, sidemarkers, all seem normal.
My initial thought was a ground issue. I cleaned the chassis ground from the lights, and all four taillight ground studs as best I could. Checked continuity between all four grounds and chassis... everything was checked out. Problem still exists.
So I went in to borrow my wife's foot (apparently her mouth is attached to her foot, so I had to listen to her gripe as well) to operate the brake pedal while I played around with moving the bulbs in the sockets, swapping bulbs around, changing out bulbs, etc. Same problem still exists.
So I'm down to scratching my head. I did find some Bubbafied wiring on the license plate lamp, which I'm going to correct next. I don't think this is part of the issue though. Should I switch out turn signal flashers as well? I can't understand how that could be the problem, but it's cheap and easy.
Any other suggestions??
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 6,422
Likes: 591
From: McHenry Illinois
If your signals work correctly, then the wiring to the rear of the car is probably ok. It sounds like the problem is in your turn signal switch, the brake light signal is routed through it to the rear lights. If the signals flash, then the flasher is ok.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 245
Likes: 2
From: Hope Indiana
billsfan, I swapped bulbs all around and even tried new ones and didn't see a difference. Let me double check that I used the right bulbs. Do you happen to remember the bulb number off the top of your head?
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 58
Likes: 1
From: Eastampton NJ
You have either grounding issues back there or a bad turn-signal switch.
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