Need help: another tail lamp failure thread

[Kevin]

So my tail lamp failure box fried here

(I realized it was fried when my tail lights stopped working but brake lights worked, did a search on the forums and came across a few threads)

anyway I needed to fix this at least temporarily until I find a replacement module because my tail lights will not go on at all when my headlights are on (brakes still worked) this was a dangerous situation and illegal and I do a lot of driving a night.

Found this thread to bypass the module altogether:http://www.supramania.com/forums/sh...RAKE-LIGHTS-BACK!&highlight=tail+lamp+failure

read through the guide and printed out a few of the posts (including the original of course)
I quickly re-wired it as follows

I put Green + Green w/ Red
And White w/ Green + Red w/ Blue

(I didn't have Red w/ White because I have an 87' I guess.. BUT I do have 89+ spoiler with the LEDs)

I left the Purple, Yellow, and White alone.

Now, the tail lights are working when I turn on head lights, but I notice that there isn't much difference in brightness when I hit the brakes (just a very slight difference brighter when brakes are engaged while head lights are on) AND my LEDs are always on when the head lights are on (which was not like this before mod, everything used to function properly)

While the head lights are off, whenever I hit the brakes, all of my dash lights turn on as if I turned on the head lights. The tail lights do illuminate though.

So obviously I probably did something wrong here. Any help would much be appreciated so I can get this fixed asap.

OR if anyone has a yellow tail lamp failure box that works that they do not need and are willing to sell to me and quickly ship to me please pm me.
thanks

 

[Scruggs86.5T]

Not really sure what you did with the wiring but the wires you have taped together need to go together, although not through the connector or failure box. Here is a paint drawing, maybe it will help you out.

You actually need to cut the wires and put them together, red and blue to green and white, and green to green and red, attaching them together from the wiring loom that leads to the connector.

 

[Kevin]

I did attach them together. I didn't want to actually cut the wire in case I wanted to go back to using the tail lamp failure box.
I used an automatic wire stripper to strip the necessary wires, exposing about a 2-3mm section of wire and then connecting them using extra 16 gauge wire I had laying around and then taping it up, thus making the wires connected.

here's the type of strippers

IMO this is one of the best types of wire strippers I've ever used (I'm no electrician)

---------- Post added at 03:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:48 AM ----------

I forgot to mention that I did not re-connect the Fail Box after the bypass..

 

[Scruggs86.5T]

Sorry for some reason when I read the thread I was thinking that you plugged the failure box back in. I don't know why I thought that. The way you have it set up should be working as far as I can tell. That is the same way that I wired mine,minus the jumpers, although I haven't tested mine yet. I am really at a loss right now. I will look at the ewd again tomorrow and see if there is something I missed, sorry gotta work in the morning, in bed as I am writing this. Hopefully someone else will chime in with something helpful.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Scruggs86.5T]

Had another look at the EWD this morning and I really cant think of any reason that it would be acting like that other than incorrect wiring, and you can clearly see in the picture that you did wire it correctly. If the bypass that you linked in the original post works for everyone with an 89+ than this should work for you, and me. It could be that when you blew whatever resistor that is on your failure board you shorted some wires somewhere else.
I would try taking some resistance checks between the tail wires and brake wire if I were you. It seems like whenever you apply the brakes with the tails off you are feeding the whole parking light circuit with power through the brake switch and then when you have the taillights on you are feeding the brake circuit with parking lamp power. This is why your third brake would be on when your taillights are on and why you only see a slight difference when applying the brake.
Question, are you seeing a slight increase in intensity on the dash lights also when you apply the brake with the headlights on?
I would just check resistance between the green/red and red/blue with both lights off. If there is 10k ohms or less resistance between the two you have a short somewhere that you need to find and fix. Hopefully this makes sense to you, basically both circuits are feeding each other. Good luck, let us know what you find out.

 

[Kevin]

Weird, I'll check when I get a chance. Although, when the jumpers are taken out and it's back to stock and I plug the fail box back in, my brake lights function perfectly normal.. only problem would be my tail lights are not on when headlights are on.

And when i press the brake while headlights are on (after bypass) the gauges do not get brighter.

 

[Scruggs86.5T]

Well the gauges getting brighter was just kind of wishful thinking on my part, it could be that they wouldnt get that brighter because of where they are in the system and where the short is. What about your rear side marker lights (with bypass)? With the system as normal, I am thinking that the blown resistor is for the tail light portion of the failure box. Meaning that your essentially not getting power to your taillight bulbs and side markers but it isnt feeding into your brake system, but when you press the brakes you are probably feeding the tail light system. But the good news to what you are saying is that if you do have a short, which is really what it sounds like, it would be somewhere after the failure box. Meaning from the box directly to the lights, hell it could be a bulb or maybe some corrosion in the socket that is causing it for all I know. Definately check resistance if you can. Let us know.

 

[mkiiichip]

Im sorry, how did you splice the wires, then undo it again (you used strippers, in the middle of the wire?)? Can I see whats under the tape?

 

[Kevin]

Ok, as requested, here is a video of me stripping a wire lol.
And some pictures with tape removed... (don't mind the white wire which was not tampered with before but I cut it by accident, so I had to reconnect it by putting an extension wire in)

[video=youtube;gxO9sRXakWU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxO9sRXakWU[/video]

hope it's clear enough for you guys.

---------- Post added at 11:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 PM ----------

sorry for the crappy quality of everything.. I only had my phone..
And also I can't find my multimeter, so I'll be buying a new one tomorrow.

 

[Scruggs86.5T]

Well when you find your multimeter or get a new one, I would first check between the two wires I mentioned above and if there is a short between them pull a plug to one of your taillights. Check the resistance again if the short went away then the problem is in that housing that you pulled the plug on. If the short is still there then pull the other plug also and check it again. Once again if the short goes away you found the right housing. If the short stays after you pull both plugs then it is going to be in the wires somewhere leading up to the plugs. Just trace them out and look for bare wires.
I am guessing it is probably going to be corrosion in one of the bulb sockets. If this is the case get some rubbing alcohol and a q tip and clean it out and then plug every thing back in and check again. It also could be something with a bulb although I have never seen it happen.
Also after you figure out the problem and decide if you want to replace the failure box or not you will need to fix the wiring splices that you created. You should use some butt connectors or spade connectors instead of just twisting the wires together, your just asking for problems if you leave them like that. Hopefully this helps out some, let us know what you find out.

 

[Kevin]

Ahh went to 3 different stores today... where the hell do they have decently priced multimeters?? lol only place that had them that i managed to get to was home depot.. unfortunately their cheapest one in stock was out of my budget $40
i'll check out canadian tire tomorrow morning

---------- Post added at 10:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 PM ----------

and as for the wiring, would it be ok if i soldered them?

 

[Scruggs86.5T]

Soildering should be fine, some people say dont because of vibration but I soildered a lot of wires on my car and have never had any issues. Me personally though, I wouldn't use electrical tape for insulating. Heat shrink if you can.