Brake Lights?? Wtf

hey all,
I have a weird issue. I changed all the bulbs on both sides of my rear brake and turning lights. My left upper brake light is out even though I changed the bulb. On the right side, all the lights are working but they are dim. They are shining at about half the luminosity of the lights that ARE working on the left side. The right side blinker is hyperlinking but ONLY when I apply the brakes. When I release the brake pedal, the right side blinker resumes normal blinking speed. All bulbs were changed. Seems like an electrical issue but where do I start? Thanks!

 

The 1st thought is, why did you change all the bulbs?

 

How much voltage you getting at the socket?

 

I don’t. How can I check that?

 

What kind of bulb did you replace them with? A picture of the package would help

 

Volt meter.

 

Your '09 doesn't have the LED tail/brake lamps, with regular bulbs for the turn signals and reverse lamps?

...and upper brake lamp bulb? I recall there being only 3 bulbs in the taillamp housing; upper (turn signal), middle (tail/brake), lower (reverse).


Show us a pic of what each side (left/right) is doing.

 

Did you replace them with LED Lights?

 

I forgot to mention: the right blinker goes fast but ONLY when my foot is on the brakes

 

There is certainly some fuckery amuck.

 

maybe...maybe not

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/drivers-turn-signal-blinking-too-fast-when-braking.255399/

 

Update: I talked with a shop. They are going to look for broken wires and/or a ground wire that is failing. Any other suggestions are appreciated!

 

sounds like bad ground somewhere...the fun part is finding it...

 

First thing I'd do is put the bulbs you had back in and see what happens.

If it does the same scenario then look for a ground problem or something loose.

Find that then start building back, change your bulbs to what you have now and see what happens.

My girlfriends old car was a 95 Nissan Altima. I noticed one night when she was leaving that the taillights became all messed up when she pressed the brakes.

I checked voltages at the plugs, checked resistance from the ground terminal to a bolt, all were great but the problem persisted.

I finally started digging into the taillights themselves and found a screw terminal with ring lugs on one of the lights that both lights fed through. It was loose and along with some other loose connections caused her problem.

After tightening up everything they worked correctly. I guess the moral of the story is to also check the housing and pay attention to the connections.

 

Agreed.

Worked on an S10 that had a screwed up ground for the lights on the rear of the frame. I don't recall exactly what it did... but it was something like that, I think the tag lights were flashing with the signals too. Even weirder, if you hooked up a trailer it worked way more normally... turned out because it didn't have a converter box or anything for the trailer lights and that harness had its own ground, so with the trailer connected the truck lights were then getting a good ground as well.