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Tailight is wierd

R

ryanblacksvt

I'm the Dork who ran 14.9 on PassTime. :)
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Messages
9,083
Location
Loganville,GA
Ok one of my tailights works fine the other dosent. I first checked the bulbs they are good, then I swapped the bulb plugs and they were fine but still acted up. The bulbs lights up but the brake light dosent and blinker dosent. I went and got a new socket at ford and its still not working. I got new bulbs and STILL not working. Anyone else have this problem?
 
1) Push the rear seat down. The wiring loom goes by the drivers side rear seat. Make sure the wiring is not chaffed.

2) Press the hazard switch. Does the hazard blinker work? If yes, you need to check the Multi Function Switch. If the hazard blinker does not work, you need a new Flasher.

From old forums.
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1303603&Forum=trouble&Words=wir%20rear%20seat%20&Match=And&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=1303475&Search=true#Post1303603
 
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not trying to contradict what you said earlier about the fuses, but i had a similar problem before, the way i found out it was a blown fuse was i looked at the front headlight and the corner was out. but that was my problem.
 
No even when the hazards are on it dosent blink. The front one on the bad side blinks very fast and the rear dosent blink at all.
 
it's blinking fast because it's not getting a signal from the rear. Since you've replaced the plug and switched the lights around and get the same result, you can pretty much rule out the taillamp itself.

Go through the wiring and check for any breaks and also all grounding points. As Tony suggested, look for any places where the wires could be rubbing on the chassis or in any pinch spots.
 
I will do this next weekend sometime, or I will just wait a few weeks when it goes to a friends house to re-do the valve cover gaskets,iac cleaning,tb,uim,lim cleaning and install the msds headers and optimized y pipe, all for my dd.
 
So let me get this straight: Only one of your blinkers isn't working? Is it the left or the right side? I would do as Tony said and just check the wires. Follow the signal wire out of the harness and check it's condition. It clearly isn't the power/ground because the tail lights work (running lights).
 
Yes when I turn the lights on the rear lights go on, when I push the brake lights or the blinker the right side dosent light.
 
Just follow that wiring. My car is inaccessible to me ATM, so I can't really tell you where you could have a wiring a problem. The problem is the wiring to the right light harness most likely, but where, you'll have to find.
 
Is this on the '98?

If so, check the connector that goes from the loom to the bulb socket. On both of mine the ground prong had(s) bad oxidation and some melting of the plastic that holds it in place, giving a bad ground that showed up with the turn signals more than I remember it doing with the brake lamps (if at all). I replaced one side already and the other side is just now starting to show the same problem.

I actually changed the whole tail lamp assembly on the passenger side with a tail lamp from a '99, since I also had some lens cracks, and the '99-on connector seems like it's a much better design.
 
so you checked the bulb and it looked good... but you didnt swap out the bulb just for trial an error?

my 99 SE had the same issue, I got brake lights, no blinker, the bulb looked absolutely fine, but I put another one in anyways, fixed.
 
Yes I swaped the bulbs then got new ones, got a new plug socket for it and all. I will check the wires this coming weekend.
 
ryanblacksvt said:
Yes I swaped the bulbs then got new ones, got a new plug socket for it and all. I will check the wires this coming weekend.
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem and changed the plug socket plus about 6 inches of wire. I think my problem was in the wiring back from the plug socket a bit. So when you say you changed the plug socket how far back did you cut the wire when you replaced it?
 
ryanblacksvt said:
I didnt have to cut any wires, the plug socket unplugs.
Click to expand...

You might try getting one with the wires attached about 6 inches back or so and replacing it by cutting back the wires. That is exactly what I did to correct the same type of problem with my car. It happened on both sides as I recall.
 
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