tail light and blinker

I have a '98 Tacoma (reg cab, 2.4L, 5spd)

The left tail light doesn't work. The brake light, rear blinkers, and backup lights do work. I replaced the bulb and fuses. What's next?

Also, the front left blinker doesn't work right. When I move the blinker switch down (and it "locks"), the arrow blinks really fast inside but nothing happens outside. However, if I manually move the blinker switch, it works.

Where should I start?

Thanks

 

hey i had a problem like this when i had my stratus r/t... try taking the talight assembly out and see if all medal is touching. it may need to be resolder'd

 

Probably a bad ground somewhere, did you just install a trailer hitch?

 

omg your in for a treat. i just had an issue where i lost my tail lights cluster lights and corner markers, turned out that there was a short inside the trailer wiring harness, after over a week of hating my truck i bought a new tail light converter box for 15 bucks and that fixed my problems, if you track it down to the tail lights, it's 90% in the trailer wiring.

 

Wiring...

 

I just got the truck. It does have wiring for a trailer and it also has auto start but I think it was working after all that was installed. I'm trying ot confirm that with the guy I bought it from right now.

So, I flipped the left and right light assemblies (tail, brake, blinker) and they will both work when they're hooked up to the right side. So, I know they both work from the wiring harness back.

I've done some significant auto repairs but wiring is the area that I know the least about. Does the wiring go from the taillight assembly to the fuse box? I think I could splice new wires and pull the old ones through but I wouldn't know which ones they are at the fuse box (if that is where they go to). Any specifics on how to do this? I bought a tester and tried to find a hot wire on the lights that work but the tester never lit up. I don't know if I didn't have it clamped top a solid enough part of the body or what. I'm kinda lost.

I also read about some kind of combination switch or something. I think that might be in the steering column? Could this be the source of both problems (tail light and blinker)?

 

are any fuses blowing constantly?
If so, replace the blown fuse, and turn on the lights, feel the trailer wiring converter behind the left tail, if it's warm, it's shorting inside and you can get a new one and wire it on your own very easy. 20 bucks.

 

check the ground! if you have a bad one it can cost you.

i had bad grounds and i took a turn to fast and it all shorted out and my taco caught on fire 1 month after i got it and it was the day of my 17th birthday.
shitty!
$1400 latter i had it all fixed.

 

You might have 2 separate problems. The combination switch (blinker control on the steering column) *might* be the cause of the front blinker weirdness (hyper-blinking when 'locked on'; normal when manually held down). It can't be the sole cause of the rear lighting weirdness.