Brake lights not working (Page 3/5) 82-T/A [At Work] DEC 07, 08:20 AM quote Originally posted by Cliff Pennock: I had checked all fuses yesterday and all seemed okay. Today I had to do a short 10 minute trip and noticed the dashboard lights were now out as well. I'm not sure it's related to the other problem or that something simply got loosened when I was checking the fuses. But needless to say I'm getting quite frustrated with my Fiero... It seems that for every one thing I fix, two other things break... Yeah, I hate that you're getting discouraged with it... because this is the feeling people get just before the sell it off. When a car gets to this point, it's (in my opinion), time to go through the entire car and clean / fix / replace / paint everything that's worn. If I recall, I don't think you have a place that you can store it inside, do you? Cliff Pennock DEC 07, 08:58 AM quote Originally posted by Mike in Sydney: Just curious, how are your headlights doing? Also, what is the condition of your battery? Your alternator? Headlights are fine, no problems there. Alternator and battery are, afaik, good. It was freezing last night and this morning I did notice however that it had difficulty starting. Mind you, it normally starts almost instantly. Now the engine was cranking for 10 seconds or so before it finally started (and I needed to apply a bit of throttle to keep it going). Cliff Pennock DEC 07, 09:01 AM quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: When a car gets to this point, it's (in my opinion), time to go through the entire car and clean / fix / replace / paint everything that's worn. If I recall, I don't think you have a place that you can store it inside, do you? Nope. I wish I had. There are sooooo many things I would be able to fix in just a few days if I had my own garage. I could probably get rid of all the leaks (coolant, transmission oil, engine oil, exhaust). Replace the seat covers. Fix the dashboard. And probably all current electrical problems. But because I can't fix them, the car is getting worse by the day... I don't want to sell this car. I've owned it for 26 years or so. lateFormula DEC 07, 09:07 AM quote Originally posted by Cliff Pennock: Today I had to do a short 10 minute trip and noticed the dashboard lights were now out as well. I'm not sure it's related to the other problem or that something simply got loosened when I was checking the fuses. If the dash lights are out, that happens to let you know that your tail lights are out. Something GM did from the 60's up until the late 90's/early 2000's when vehicle lighting became controlled by the BCM. Cliff Pennock DEC 07, 02:11 PM Well, the dash lights were working yesterday - when my tail lights weren't... theogre DEC 07, 02:48 PM dash lights... turn On/Off parking lights on HL switch a few times. Leave HL off. That switch have be dirty etc cause Dash & Parking lights problems. IOW see if any P-lights work or not when the dash is out. otherwise see cave dimmer page. Cliff Pennock DEC 08, 07:47 AM I just routed a temporary extra ground line and my (tail-) lights came back to life! So it's definitely a ground problem. This will have to hold until spring... Cliff Pennock DEC 08, 10:11 AM Ok, so this just got really, really weird. I thought I had fixed it. What I did was connect an extra wire to an existing ground inside the tail light assembly (using a Scotchlok) then connect that wire to the screw holding down the engine grill. When I did that, the lights immediately came on. So I thought I had it fixed. I accidentally broke one of the bulbs in the process so I drove to the nearest gas station to buy a bulb. During that drive, I noticed my turn signals still weren't working. So at the gas station I checked the rear lights and they were off again. Suspecting a loose connection of the newly added wire, I drove home again opened the trunk, and turned on my lights. The lights were working again so that just confirmed my suspicion the connection must be flaky. But no matter how hard I fiddled with the wire, the lights stayed on. So I thought they were working again. So I closed the trunk and the lights immediately went off. I opened the trunk and the lights came on. I found out there was a "sweet spot". If I opened the trunk beyond that point, the lights came on. Closing it beyond that point and the lights went off. Mind you, if my tail lights go out (loose ground), my third brake light comes on. I checked the cables going into the deck lid, but fiddling with that made no difference whatsoever. Now to test if it was just that point at the engine grill, I routed the wire to a point on the engine itself. Same story. Only when I routed the wire directly to my battery did my taillights stay on. Now what worries me is that apparently when my trunk is closed, the entire engine has lost ground, or is shorted to the plus of the lights. One thing I did notice was that a small ground wire which was connected to the left hinge of the trunk, was loose on the other side. So it wasn't connected to anything. theogre DEC 08, 01:51 PM Loose wire likely was going to the deck lid metal part. The Ear or wire there finally rotted thru. The metal is a "ground plane" to prevent E-noise getting out from ignition & getting in from local radio sources cause ECM problems etc. In Video... look lid hinges & tension rods hitting the harness. Those may not rub thru the surface you see but wires inside or push the whole harness into the engine or exhaust & shorted to "12v" to have High Brake On or whatever is backfeed/sneakpath thru High Brake. 86 lid "ajar" & trunk light switch is on the trunk latch. That only operate when the lid is shut full. Trunk light has "12v" on orange wire & crtsy/lid fuse. pull that fuse & see if that changes things. Sneak paths often won't blow fuses etc because of the light bulb. If can't see wiring problems, may need to get DC Amp Clamp to find w/o cutting or otherwise bothering wires. Other meters & test lights often won't help here. Again HB ground is in the Cabin @ G201 etc. See cave wire service. Fixing a "ground" problem for taillight won't change HB light working weird. 82-T/A [At Work] DEC 09, 08:51 PM quote Originally posted by Cliff Pennock: Nope. I wish I had. There are sooooo many things I would be able to fix in just a few days if I had my own garage. I could probably get rid of all the leaks (coolant, transmission oil, engine oil, exhaust). Replace the seat covers. Fix the dashboard. And probably all current electrical problems. But because I can't fix them, the car is getting worse by the day... I don't want to sell this car. I've owned it for 26 years or so. Ugh, that really sucks. If you lived near Vassen or Appeldorn, there's a huge factory with 10 vehicle bays that's totally abandoned with my family's name on the side of the building.