Brake Light Switch or Turn Signal Switch?
i do have 12 volt to the pink wire on the brake switch. I ran a jumper wire between the pink and white to bypass the switch (my idea of testing if the switch was the problem) but did not show brake lights on when i did this.
From the brake light switch, am i understanding correctly that the white wire goes up to the turn signal switch? If this is this case, is there really no way to rule out/ bypass the turn signal switch in the column to see if the brake lights work at all?
ok
I have been getting my wife to spot the lights
While the headlight switch is "on" if I jumper between the red and white terminals on the turn signal side, my wife says that the left tail light goes off and the right remains unaffected.
This specific result indicates a GROUND problem.
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HERE IS the deal.
TURN SIGNALS
Flasher gets power "key on" and feeds flasher output into the TS switch
Brake switch should ALWAYS be hot, and output feeds into the (white) TS switch
Left and right TURN and BRAKE are same wires, one wire for each side, come OUT of the TS switch, and go through the KICK PANEL connector at the left, then under the wire channel, off to the rear of the car. That connector is a good place to probe to do checking. If you have power there, but not working at the rear, either the harness is pinched / cut going to the rear, or you have bulb / socket problems
THEN you have ONE wire for tail lights for both sides going to the rear. This comes off the headlight switch, and also powers the rear side markers.
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FIRST thing I'd do is look up the wiring diagram, go here for a shop manual and wiring diagrams
http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31
(By the way some of the service manuals there came from the guys here at FABO
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Next, tear apart the rear bulbs and sockets, scrape them clean, inspect, test and replace bulbs. If you cannot get them to ground, solder ground pigtails to the socket shells and run an extra ground wire from the socket shells to a ground bolt
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Test the tail / marker lights, and do "wiggle" tests to see if the grounds look OK
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Do a "wiggle test on the TS switch. Wiggle the 4x flasher switch, and the TS switch to be sure the 4x is off and the TS is "centered." Have your wife again watch, as you jumper the brake light switch, and see if you have brake lights. "Wiggle" the TS and 4x switch to see if they work, one left, one right, centered, etc.
If they seem to work, turn the tail on / off they should not go out as you describe. If one / the other does, you still have grounding problems
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If functions don't seem to make sense, look up the colors for the kick panel connector, and probe that with a meter or test lamp to see what is going on. If you are getting power there when you should, then you likely still have bulb or socket problems.
Don't discount bulb problems. Bulbs can be a *****, simple as they are. They can be intermittent, and they can short across internally. That is, tail light power can "transfer" to the brake light filament, and vise versa.
