Brake and turn light acting funny

Aloha everyone in Tacoma World

I recently purchased a 2001 Tacoma 2wd Xtra cab. I have been searching the web for some solutions on my brake and turn light problems.

Here is what's happening to my truck:
When I hit the brakes, my left turn signal(front and rear) stays on and it also stays on in my dash while the left brake light dims. I release the brake pedal and the left turn signal goes off.
When I signal left without pressing the brakes, the turn signal operates at normal speed.
When I signal left while pressing the brakes, the turn signal flashes faster than normal and the left brake light dims out.

This happens intermittently. Sometimes the lights operate normally and sometimes they don't.

Some say it may be a bad ground, others say it may be the bulbs itself or even the flasher relay. But so far, I have inspected the left turn bulbs front and rear and also the brake light bulb. They seem to look normal and nothing blown out. I have new turn and brake lights but haven't installed them yet. First, I might try swapping my driver side bulbs with the passenger side bulbs to see if it this problem happens on the right side after swapping the bulbs. I'll try to do this after work today and keep you guys updated.
If any members would like to give me any suggestions I would appreciate the help.

Mahalo (Thank you),
-G

 

When you swap bulbs, check wires for bad or thin insulation around socket and housing. Pull as much wide as you can see back there.
Maybe also look at brake pedal area just to be sure a wire bundle isn't physically touching moving parts that could wear through insulation.

 

I will check the wires when I swap the bulbs and also the brake pedal area. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I had this problem with the set of aftermarket LED tails I am running. The light would blink faster when I depressed the brakes. I ended up swapping the bulbs front and rear with some quality Sylvanias, and haven't had a problem since. I figured it had something to do with the skinny filament on the cheap bulbs not creating enough resistance for the flasher module.

If it's not that then maybe your blinker fluid needs to be changed.

 

I may just put the new bulbs I have in (since I already bought them) and hope I never have the problem again. If I still have that flasher and break problem I'll be back asking for more suggestions. Thanks for the advice.

 

The flasher and brake problem sounds like a bad ground. Could also be a rogue filament on a bulb. If new bulbs don't solve the problem, trace the wiring from the taillights and look for the ground wires. Make sure ground connections are clean and tight.

Also, if you have a trailer wiring harness spliced in, it may also be the culprit.

 

I had that same thing. Its definitely a grounding issue. Check your trailer harness ground. that was my problem. Mud and other junk had finally broke the wire and once i reground it all was well again.

 

I don't have a trailer harness. I'll definitely check the ground wires from the tail light if the new bulbs don't solve the problem. Thanks for the suggestions.