tail light problem

[natedogr]

my car is an '88 and the left tail light has been giving me problems. the brake lights work just fine during the day but when i turn my headlights on the left one is dim and when i push the brakes the left tail goes completely out and the right one lights up like it should. my tail light failure sensor went out a while back and i did my own little rewire to bypass it. recently i did the rewire i found on the forum and the tails worked like they should for a day or so. now the left one just goes out with the headlights on and the brakes applied. the left one has been leaking when it rains so i suppose it shorted something out. i'm resealing it today but with everything dry it didn't help my problem out any. anyone have a clue?

 

[hvyman]

double check your wiring. and bulbs.

 

[natedogr]

bulbs are all good. as far as wiring it all seems fine but i haven't actually tested it with anything. theres just so many wires back there i don't know where to start.

 

[Kckazdude]

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58560&highlight=kckazdude

That should fix your lighting problems.

 

[natedogr]

hmm i've read that before. my bulb holder is just like yours, all the corrosion on the sockets and bulbs. for $15 its def worth a shot. i sure hope thats the case and theres not a problem somewhere hard to get to.

edit: ha saw it was you who actually did the write up, kckazdude. did you have similar problems to mine?

 

[Kckazdude]

One side, the bulbs would light up fine when just tail lights were on or if just brakes were on. When brake lights came on with tail lights I lost a bulb and a filament on the other side. After cleaning all that stuff, all is well. Another tip that I didnt mention in that write up, put some epoxy in the screw hole for the ground wire. Let that set and drill another hole so the screw holds tight.

 

[natedogr]

well i finally got around to doing the rewire using new pigtails. worked perfectly, tail lights came back and work like they're supposed to for the first time in i don't know how long. if you have the same problem definitely follow Kckazdude's write up. thanks man!

 

[natedogr]

well my tail lights worked for about a week or two then the right one stopped working right. i had only rewired the left one. so i did the exact same rewire to the right one and it didn't fix anything. it actually made it worse, it doesn't light up at all when i hit the brakes with the headlights off. with the head lights on the tail lights come on like normal but the right one doesn't get any brighter like it should. any thoughts?

 

[hvyman]

seems like you rewired it worng because if you bypass the tail light failure sensor you would have hard wired all tails lights.