Electrical problem: taillights on only with door open?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 260
Likes: 1
From: Los Angeles CA
Electrical problem: taillights on only with door open?
Hey guys, newbie here. I bought an 80 'Vette a couple of months ago and soon after noticed an odd intermittent problem: the taillights are on only with the door open, so when i'm driving they're off (unless I drive with the doors wide open, which I typically tend to avoid!) I realize it's likely a short somewhere that causes this to happen and is hard to determine the problem via a message board but i'm hoping maybe someone else had this problem and can point me in the right direction? Anyone have any clues?
(I should have asked this sooner as I've been suffering with this problem for several weeks. Thankfully, some nice LAPD officers last night reminded me that I should get it taken care of sooner than later...)
Unfortunately this car seems to have been Bubbafied quite a bit so it has been a pain to undo some of what the previous owners did. I'm not too mechanically inclined (yet) but when I took it to a recommended Vette guy last month he almost fainted when he popped the hood! (the car is much better now, thanks)
Anyone know of a good auto electrical shop in the Los Angeles area that knows Corvettes and isn't too pricey? Or can a decent general auto-electric shop find their way around? (and what's a ballpark $ amount for something like this?)
Thanks fellow Vette-heads!
-stan
(I should have asked this sooner as I've been suffering with this problem for several weeks. Thankfully, some nice LAPD officers last night reminded me that I should get it taken care of sooner than later...)
Unfortunately this car seems to have been Bubbafied quite a bit so it has been a pain to undo some of what the previous owners did. I'm not too mechanically inclined (yet) but when I took it to a recommended Vette guy last month he almost fainted when he popped the hood! (the car is much better now, thanks)
Anyone know of a good auto electrical shop in the Los Angeles area that knows Corvettes and isn't too pricey? Or can a decent general auto-electric shop find their way around? (and what's a ballpark $ amount for something like this?)
Thanks fellow Vette-heads!
-stan
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 8,918
Likes: 27
From: New Hill NC
Sounds like the ground to the TL is bad, but other than the fact that the door switch does nothing but ground the interior light circuit, I don't know how they would be connected. Another possibility is that the interior light hot feed is in some way shorted to the TL circuit.
If I had to trouble shoot the problem, the first thing I would do is remove a rear bulb and check it for power (12V) with the HL switch on and off. If you have power with it on, then go looking at grounds. If there is no power either way, then open the door and recheck. If you have power then, there is a short to that circuit.
You didn't say, but does the interior light work normally?
If I had to trouble shoot the problem, the first thing I would do is remove a rear bulb and check it for power (12V) with the HL switch on and off. If you have power with it on, then go looking at grounds. If there is no power either way, then open the door and recheck. If you have power then, there is a short to that circuit.
You didn't say, but does the interior light work normally?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 260
Likes: 1
From: Los Angeles CA
actually, the interior lights don't work at all. (neither do the dash indicator/warning lights.) related perhaps, huh?
sounds like the previous owner(s) tinkered with the electrical and didn't know what he was doing...
sounds like the previous owner(s) tinkered with the electrical and didn't know what he was doing...
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 16,528
Likes: 53
From: Dayton, Ohio
Try turning the headlight **** counterclockwise to turn on the courtesy lights with the door closed and see if the taillights come on. If they do its possible the taillights are getting their ground through the spare tire illumination ground wire.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 38,923
Likes: 1,482
From: Southbound
Cruise-In II Veteran
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 260
Likes: 1
From: Los Angeles CA
Roger: just tried the lights with the door closed and courtesy lights on and still no taillights.
Easy Mike: the odd thing is that this problem is intermittent, although it hasn't been working consecutively for the last several weeks. Heck, sometimes i have dim tail and parking lights with the doors close but they go to normal brightness with doors opened.
Another odd thing is that the hazards and turn signals flash slow with the doors closed, but when I open the doors... *presto* ...normal flashing.
Maybe i'll just drive with the doors open from now on. They make Lambo door conversions for C3's, right?
Easy Mike: the odd thing is that this problem is intermittent, although it hasn't been working consecutively for the last several weeks. Heck, sometimes i have dim tail and parking lights with the doors close but they go to normal brightness with doors opened.
Another odd thing is that the hazards and turn signals flash slow with the doors closed, but when I open the doors... *presto* ...normal flashing.
Maybe i'll just drive with the doors open from now on. They make Lambo door conversions for C3's, right?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 260
Likes: 1
From: Los Angeles CA
another symptom I've noticed:
turn signals/hazards: front and rear side markers don't flash unless the door is open. they just remain lit.
(also: my brake lights seem to work normally during the day when the light switch isn't activated.)
turn signals/hazards: front and rear side markers don't flash unless the door is open. they just remain lit.
(also: my brake lights seem to work normally during the day when the light switch isn't activated.)
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Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 260
Likes: 1
From: Los Angeles CA
i know all of you were probably loosing sleep worrying about my electrical problem so I thought I would chime in to let you know i found the problem: a loose ground wire behind the driver-side rear tire next to the power antenna motor. i decided to poke around under the car not know what i'd find and started wiggling things. tightened the bolt it was connected to... voila!
there, now you can all sleep soundly tonight. thanks again for your help!
there, now you can all sleep soundly tonight. thanks again for your help!
