1990 RS
bought the car as a repo, other than this slight problem and a broken corner marker, it's been nothing but a dream.

my tail lights intermittently disappear. when? I don't know.
I turn the car on, lower the handbrake, and my lights come on as if I've turned the combination switch to turn the parking lights on, even though the combination switch is off. I DO have daytime runninglights, and they DO function even when the tail lights turn off.

now, when they do turn off (just the back, I cannot verify if the front marker lights are off since whenever I get out of the car to check if they are on or off, the rear lights are on), sometimes if I flick the highbeams a bunch, or turn the combination switch on and off a lot, the rear lights will come back on.
BUT, a surefire way to turn them back on is by leaving the combination switch ON, turning the car off, and then back on.

so, in an attempt to sum up, my parklights are always on, whether my combination switch is on or not, until they randomly turn off, even if the combination switch is on. the only remedy is leaving the combination switch on and turning the car off and then on.

any suggestions?
oh, and there are NO other electrical problems. I'm leaning towards a combination switch problem

(posting this in g2ic too)





Modified by warric_k at 10:46 AM 5/5/2004

 

not even a single suggestion?

throw stuff at me, please

 

how do you KNOW that there are no electrical problems? Obviously this is one. And you bought the car as a Repo, so who knows how it was treated by previous owners.

By what you describe that sometimes they'll come back on from flicking the combo switch off and on a bunch of times, sounds like it could be:

faulty switch, short in the circuit, wiring that is corroding and no longer making good contact....that's all that's on the top of my head right now. The only way to get to the bottom of it is to start somewhere and troubleshoot.

 

then I will restate and say that this is the only obvious problem.

the car was absolutely stock, it's got 250,000km on it and is in excellent condition inside, outside, and everything in between. I highly doubt the previous owner abused the car.

 

Ok, get yourself a wiring diagram for your car, (helms, online, whatever)

1. Isolate the problem areas on the diagram and whatever other parts may be affected. So isolate the combo switch all the way to the rear and front tail lights.

2. Check to see if the combo switch is on the ground side or the power side. If it is on the ground side then it is possible you might have a short to ground on the ground side before the switch.

3. It wont be a short to ground on the power side because you would have blown a fuse.

4. now go from you power source and check for cross shorts, and you do that by getting a multi meter and testing for continuity along the wire at all connections, then check all lines that cross it.

5. after you are done with that, check for continuity on the ground side

6. To me it sounds like you have a cross short or a short to ground on the ground side b4 the switch.

Hope that helps a little bit