Tail light / fog light / amber light problem

[THE Phen]

Ok, so yesterday I noticed that my fogs weren't working. When I looked up, I saw that the amber bulbs in the headlights weren't on either. When I walked around the rear of the car, I had no tail lights. Is there one thing that causes all three of these to go out? I replaced the fuse for the tail lights because that was blown, and still no dice. Any thoughts?

EDIT: The gauge illumination doesn't work now either, but the trouble lights, such as the CEL, Air Bag and such lights all work. Big old WTF on this beast.

[evilmonkeyMSP]

i would check all of your fuses. I believe there are some for lighting in the engine bay also but i might be wrong...

[THE Phen]

i would check all of your fuses. I believe there are some for lighting in the engine bay also but i might be wrong...


I checked all the ones below the dash. They're all good. The only one that was blown under the hood was the one for the tail lights. I replaced it, the fuse is good, but still no tail lights. Brake lights and headlights do work, however.

[imjustagirl]

j00 have a gremlin.. lol.. now do your brake lights come on when you step on the pedal or do you just have taillamps? that could be a stop lamp switch... as for the other stuff, I have to think about it, lol

[THE Phen]

j00 have a gremlin.. lol.. now do your brake lights come on when you step on the pedal or do you just have taillamps? that could be a stop lamp switch... as for the other stuff, I have to think about it, lol


Brake lights work as they should. Tail lights never come on.

[imjustagirl]

Brake lights work as they should. Tail lights never come on.


you have 4 relays that are the same, but control different stuff.... not fuses but main relays.. under the hood you have one for the headlamps, one for the combination lamps, one for the horn and one for the a/c.. and inside of the car you have a relay for the foglamps.. that could possibly solve that problem.. still working on a possible solution for the tail lamp problem

[THE Phen]

you have 4 relays that are the same, but control different stuff.... not fuses but main relays.. under the hood you have one for the headlamps, one for the combination lamps, one for the horn and one for the a/c.. and inside of the car you have a relay for the foglamps.. that could possibly solve that problem.. still working on a possible solution for the tail lamp problem

Right. I'm going to start testing individual relays tonight when I get home. The whole thing makes no sense to me. It all worked great until a few days ago. I guess it's time for me to use my electrical engineering degree and fix this crap.

[TheMAN]

check the ROOM fuse, the TNS relay, and TAIL fuse
check the ground for the headlight switch also

[iLisa]

any luck with the fuses last night? or did you have time to look at them?

[THE Phen]

Tail light fuse was blown. I replaced it, no dice. I checked it this morning before coming to work and it was still good. Tonight I'll have more time to look into it. I was too busy yesterday to do so.

[THE Phen]

Ok, so replaced the fuse ,and it keeps blowing. I have all the lights disconnected, and I've been checking the continuity on each plug. So far the ambers (front and rear) are shorting, as well as the license plate lights. So...to recap...

Headlights - Work
Turn Signals - Work
Foglights - Don't work
Front amber driving - Don't Work, short
Side turns - Work
Side markers (bumper) - Don't work
Brake lights - work
tail lights - don't work
reverse lights - work
rear turnsignals - work
license plates - don't work, short
rear amber - short


Any thoughts at all are appreciated. I can't drive my car at night, and I'm getting really flustered.

[TreFlip999]

quite a situation...

[THE Phen]

Yeah...no kidding.

[meinp5]

I'll guess it's a relay.

[THE Phen]

FIXED! It was the tail light relay under the hood. PITA to get out, but it works now!

[iLisa]

woot. glad she is fixed.

[meinp5]

WooHoo!! I guessed the relay...whats my prize?(headbang)

[THE Phen]

Your prize is to figure out why the hell they went out again tonight on the way home from Cleveland. Fuggin thing.

[meinp5]

Man...why do you have to suck....(gtfo) jk

[THE Phen]

Hahahaha. Correct response is...why does my car have to suck. A 6pk of Corona will come your way for diagnosing.

[meinp5]

Score! We need to get together again sometime soon and try to figure it out...