Taillights not working

[Blue Meanie]

I'm going nuts! My tailights aren't working. Cleaned the contacts, new atlernator, good battery, new fuses and the best I get is an extremely dim light you can barely see. It has to have a common denominator. One bulb was burnt out. One bulb won't cause all the light to do that wouldn't it?

PLEASE HELP!!!

Chilton says replace the ignition relay switch. WTF is that?

Thanks guys, so to be so dumb! :stupid:

[Arne]

Bad ground, or too much resistance through the wire to the rear of the car. Are the parking lights up front dim too? Does the tail light fuse get hot?

[Blue Meanie]

Replaced the fuses and it appeard that the tailight fuse had gotten warm. The front light are fine. Thanks Arne, this is driving me nuts!!! The lights worked fine before. This just started the other day.

[EScanlon]

Other possibilities, the Hazard Light switch, the Turn Signal Switch and the Brake Light Switch. This would be for the Turn Signal /Brake lights.

For the Running Lights....the Combination Switch.

Did you recently do some work in the steering column area?

E

[Arne]

How bright are the brake lights or turn signals? Test them for brightness both with the tail lights on and off.

If the brake/turn/hazards in the rear are all OK, then I'd suspect something in the wiring between the combo switch and the tail lights, or perhaps the combo switch itself. Also look at the rear sidemarker lights - how bright are they? If they are normal brightness, it's probably a bad ground to the tail lights, since the sidemarkers are grounded separately. If they are dim too, then the problem is closer to the front of the car.

[Blue Meanie]

No work in the colomn area. In the front are bright and the back are barely visable. You have to have the bulb out to see it.

[ezzzzzzz]

In the rear I believe the ground is through the fuel tank sending unit. There is a ground that goes to the tank through a grommet behind the right rear taillight panel (on my 240Z anyhow). If the ground is not available or is not perfect then the taillights will ground through another bulb filiment. That would possibly account for the dim lights.

[EScanlon]

No work in the colomn area. In the front are bright and the back are barely visable. You have to have the bulb out to see it.

In the rear I believe the ground is through the fuel tank sending unit. There is a ground that goes to the tank through a grommet behind the right rear taillight panel (on my 240Z anyhow). If the ground is not available or is not perfect then the taillights will ground through another bulb filiment. That would possibly account for the dim lights.

Ok, let's try to get this "organized".

Front:

The 2 FRONT SIDE markers are : OK √

The 2 FRONT TURN/PARK Lights are: OK √

Rear:

The 2 REAR SIDE markers are : ??

The 2 REAR TURN/PARK Lights are: DIM X

Ground at the Fuel Tank Area: ??

Bulb Contact Points are: CLEAN + BRIGHT √

[Blue Meanie]

All rear are dim including the side markers. Hadn't checked the ground because I didn't know where it was.

[EScanlon]

ezzz is correct, there is a ground down by the fuel tank sending unit, but I don't know exactly where or if it's the only one.

You might check near the metal tubes that go through the floor for the vent tube hoses and see if there's a ground screw and wire near there.

Even though it's a Ground, I would recommend you FIX the original one rather than make a new one. Cobbled up wiring is ALWAYS a pain to troubleshoot later and only YOU would know/remember that you added a ground in other than the OEM place.

2¢

E

[a7dz]

There is only one ground back there on the early cars. It is about three or four inches forward of the rear body panel on the right side aft of the fuel filler neck. On the inside of the frame rail.

[jackboxxx]

All rear are dim including the side markers. Hadn't checked the ground because I didn't know where it was.

you could check if it is a ground issue by adding a temp ground wire or just grounding a couple foot piece of wire on the chassis back there, maybe at the power antenna bracket bolt for example, then with your lights ON and dim like normal, touch the ground wire to the ground side on the bulb or ground wire itself..if you bulbs or bulb light up like normal, then you know what the problem is..