Tail Lght Issues!

[RBceffy25]

I own a 1990 nissan Cefiro.

One side (RH side) of my tail lights will not work but the brake lights are fine.(..And yes i am aware that the bulbs are twin filament.)

I have checked the fuses, replaced the bulbs and replaced the relay but they still wont work!.

I put a test light in the bulb socket and there not getting power but the brake light still work fine when the pedal is pressed.

What the hell is going on with it?

Could this be a wiring problem?

A wiring diagram for a A31 cefiro would be helpful to if anyone has one?

[Nic_A31]

Connections.

Mine were playing up. Fuses good, bulbs were good, wiring was good.

Unplug the connection, blow it out, and reconnect it, push as hard together as you can, I found on mine, just because it "clicks" in, doesnt mean its in properly. I had to push it in a tad further, havent had drama's since. Stupid wiring connectors.

[daisu]

Not exactly sure what the problem is....

The lights work when you press the brake pedal, but they don't light up when you have your parkers on? Or the lights on one side work but not on the other side?

Either way, check there is no corrosion on the inside of the bulb holder. Check where the wires join to the back of the bulb holder. Check for corrosion where all the earths for the tail light assembly join together.

[works 510]

I think its something else.

I have the exact same problem, its a short somewhere.

turn lights on, only the passenger light gets power, but when you press the brake pedal, both stop lamps works.

Demotorvates me to drive it at nite, I get pulled over, car gets defected.

Ive changed the bulb holders 3 times, its deff not the plug or them, grabbed a test light to the plug of the body loom, its got power when needed but as soom as you plug the bulb holder loom into the body loom, I lose power.

Has to be a short somewhere, no idea where it is, checked everywhere!

[Nic_A31]

Anyone tried re-soldering ?

I know you think its not the board, but I've fixed alot of "shorting" by resoldering boards on my Nissans. The factory mass produced stuff was all done by machine, any human hand can do a better job.

[daisu]

If there was a "short" you'd know about it because you'd loose all your parkers (and dash illumination).

I'm with nic, check the solder joints on the back of the bulb holders and all the earthing connection points.

[works 510]

All the earths that I can find are fine, and I tried 4 different bulb holders, including the one from the passenger side.

Still nothing

[daisu]

grabbed a test light to the plug of the body loom, its got power when needed but as soom as you plug the bulb holder loom into the body loom, I lose power.

I haven't looked in my boot for a while, but when you say bulb holder loom is that seperate to the bulb holder? Because you say you check for power at the body loom and that is okay, and you've replaced the bulb holders, but perhaps there is a break in the wire of the bulb holder loom?

[works 510]

Had another look, couldnt find anything that would affect it.

Maybe the wiring under the dash is suss?

Its also draining my battery

[DanShirts]

...

Its also draining my battery

Ohh, your lucky! You get to find a bad circuit!

Pull the positive battery cable off the battery. Hook up a test light between the positive battery terminal and the positive cable. (+terminal -> test light -> +cable)

Does the light stay on? If it does, then you have a drain on your battery.

Start pulling fuses until the light goes off. Yours is probably the exterior lights circuit. Now that you know which circuit has the drain, you can start unplugging each bulb (or anything else electric) on that circuit.

Your clock and cd player will always have a very small current draw. Usually less than 0.06 amps. So it's a good idea to disconnect those before you start.

Also, you didn't leave the cabin light on, right?

[blind_elk]

They are twin filament bulbs - 1 filament for brakes, 1 filament for tails. Just because the brakes work doesn't exclude the tails from not working.

The bulb should have 2 "knobs" on the base. They mate against the 2 "knobs" in the bulb holder.

[works 510]

BUMP!

Been busy blowing up/building motors to bother to look at this problem.

You fixed this problem yet?