I've searched extensively and have found nothing that directly answers my problem. Or at least I have not been able to identify it.

I have attached photo's of my Chilton wiring diagram(I circled the tail and license plate lights) and of the first large connectors that the tail lights go to in the trunk. I don't know if it's relevant, but here it is.

My running/tail) lights(the housing on the trunk) and license plate lights work very occasionally. Like once every other week or longer. As far as I can determine, I have power to those lights because the brake lights work for the dual filament bulb on the trunk lid.

I've looked at my Chilton wiring diagram and have failed miserably at trying to interpret it for finding out where what wire goes where and if it could help determine the issue..

I have replaced the bulbs, so they are brand new. All of my fuses are good. I have no idea what a Brake Lamp Failure Sensor is-or if it even applies to my problem.

I'm at a loss. Any help is appreciated.

 

Have you checked your grounds to make sure they are clean and tight? It looks like these circuits also run thru your multi function switch. Have you checked there for corrosion? When they don't work, do you lose all lights, or just taillights? do the front corner lights still work when taillights don't? This may help isolating the problem.

 

Where are my grounds? I've wondered that for quite some time. There are a few grounding points under the hood, but I don't know what goes to what.

I took as much of my multi-switch(the one for parking and headlights, right?) apart today as I could and cleaned off what I could. No change.

The front corner lights do work 100% of the time. It's just the taillights and the license plate lights.

 

Bump

 

I apologize for continuing to bump this, but I really don't want to pay for a mechanic and I have a citation for faulty lights which can be annulled by fixing this problem. So if I can, I'm going to.

Does anyone have any more ideas? I'm willing to try anything.

 

Do you have side markers? If they would come on when running lights would normally be on. Maybe it'd be wiring issues then.

 

Side markers as in parking lights on the front? If so, then yes. And they do work 100% of the time. Does the multi-function light switch on the steering column commonly fail?

I hope it's not a wiring issue...