1989 mk3 supra tail light problem

[chopsticks]

Originally Posted by dannydavi

lol yeah that's a pretty good example of exactly how brake lights work... I on the other hand have the opposite problem and would love a solution! my tail lights when my lights are on are really dim and when i push my brake pedal the tail lights and brake lights don't work at all. The hatch brake light works but not the two below. Also when I push the brake pedal when the car is off I notice my stereo lights lighting up :s... and then to top it all off at the same time these went out my dome lights on the interior don't work. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have already checked the obvious fuses and replaced all bulbs. Not trying to steal his thread, but perhaps this is what he was getting at...

i had the same problem. If you take off that interior piece that you have to take off to change the bulbs and look under the light bulb retainer there is a little yellow box. That may be bad. I have to pull over when i notice my brake lights arnt working and have to jiggle that box around. mine has a short. But i dont know where to pick a new one up at??

[Busted Knuckles]

Originally Posted by chopsticks

i had the same problem. If you take off that interior piece that you have to take off to change the bulbs and look under the light bulb retainer there is a little yellow box. That may be bad. I have to pull over when i notice my brake lights arnt working and have to jiggle that box around. mine has a short. But i dont know where to pick a new one up at??

Dealer. But, you could open the box yourself and re-solder any broken solders.

[dannydavi]

I have already opened up that yellow box and all is good in there. Looks in perfect condition. And as far as the grounds go... where would one find those?

[Busted Knuckles]

You need a multimeter, and check for resistance between any of the white with black stripe wires (ground circuit) and a know good ground. You should be getting 'infinite' ohms, meaning no resistance. Zero ohms means a break somewhere, and anything else means a corroded ground connection somewhere causing a resistance.

[btwilson86]

Originally Posted by Busted Knuckles

You should be getting 'infinite' ohms, meaning no resistance. Zero ohms means a break somewhere, and anything else means a corroded ground connection somewhere causing a resistance.

Close, you actually have it backwards though. 0 ohms means almost no resistance, meaning a good conductive wire. Infinite ohms (often represented with a "1" at the beginning of the display on a digital multimeter) means that the 2 reference points are not connected to each other electrically

[Busted Knuckles]

Originally Posted by btwilson86

Close, you actually have it backwards though. 0 ohms means almost no resistance, meaning a good conductive wire. Infinite ohms (often represented with a "1" at the beginning of the display on a digital multimeter) means that the 2 reference points are not connected to each other electrically

Your right. It was late at night when I wrote that. Fighting a little insomnia.

Originally Posted by chopsticks

Well i have already opened it and everything looked fine. A buddy of mine told me that is a common problem with the brake lights.

Visual inspection alone may not locate the bad connections. You need to check the connections with a multimeter. Having to shake the box is classic symptoms of a bad connection somewhere.

[chopsticks]

Originally Posted by dannydavi

I have already opened up that yellow box and all is good in there. Looks in perfect condition. And as far as the grounds go... where would one find those?

Well i have already opened it and everything looked fine. A buddy of mine told me that is a common problem with the brake lights.