for some reason, my taillights in my trans am have been screwed up since i bought my car back in february. i'm not really sure what's wrong with them... i know it's not the bulbs cuz i've changed the bulbs several times...

before, it was like a switch off thing. when i have my lights turned on, the taillights were fine... but when i hit my brake light... one of the two bulbs that are supposed to get brighter would dim out and the other one would get brighter on each side. when i turned my turn signals on... it'd be like... one would go out, the other would get bright, then it'd go back and do it again. it was the same with each side, but in reverse...

now, my driver's side taillight is ever worse which has prompted me to want to fix it more. when i have my lights turned on now... if i hit my brake, the two bulbs just go completely out. so i have the corner bulb lit for my taillight, but the middle two bulbs just go out all together. it's really retarded, and i have no clue what's wrong with it. the strange part is... if i don't have my lights turned on, my brake lights and my turn signals work just fine. it's really irritating.

anybody have a clue what's wrong with them? i really don't want to have to take my car to the dealership to spend $60 on a quote and then god only knows how much to get the problem fixed, and i don't know where else i would take it to get this problem fixed. i'd much rather just fix it myself. any suggestions? thanx in advance.

- jay

 

Sounds like you have a major grounding problem.Has the car been hit?I would first check the brake light switch under the dash,and see if all the connections are tight.You may have to have this grounding thing traced by a qualified electical person.Hope this helps.(does the abs light flash during all of this?).Also check for the exact bulbs called for by the car's manual.Hope this helps.(the wrong bulbs Will kick the abs light to go crazy).My02

 

Yes, like Fatdog said, you have a grounding problem and it should be examined by a pro electrical person.
I had the same problem, there was a bad ground in the plastic bulb fitting and somewhere in the front.
good luck

 

i had the same problem with a 93 trans am. what i did was find a ground wire to the bulbs and i tied into it and ran it to ground.it worked fine for me.

 

You may also want to inspect the sockets and wires at the sockets closely. They are prone to corrosion.

 

Did anyone ever get this fixed???????????????? My car is doing the exact same thing as "ilegalactivist"......ive changed all the bulbs..and I mean all of them. Its just irritating now....


Please help !!!

 

its your sockets not the bulbs.they loose ground.with the brake on take and touch a wire to the metal part of the bulb then take the other end to ground.it should light up

 

So would buying new sockes fix this problem? I am having this problem on the one light on the driver side, so it sounds like it is the socket.

Or is there a cheaper shaddytree mechanic way to fix it?

 

i had the same problem with a 93 trans am. what i did was find a ground wire to the bulbs and i tied into it and ran it to ground.it worked fine for me.



oK 93 RED Z CAN YOU BE JUST A LITTLE MORE SPECIFIC AS TO HOW you did the ground thing. Im sorry Im just not very good with electrical things. Im sure its simple but if you can elaborate just a little bit, It would help immensly!!!

Thanks In advance James

 

a socket would fix it fro sure but th eadded ground should do it also