Help on Tail Lights

[ChallengerHK]

I took the car on a shakedown cruise to a buddy's place about 30 miles away. In general she performed well, with no drivetrain problems that I could discern. On the way home (in the dark) I found out that my taillights were intermittent. I had this problem when I started on the engine a couple of years ago. At the time, since I knew the rear harness had damage, I assumed that that was the problem and I replaced it with a Year One rear harness (I know, never assume  ). I still have the same issue.

Now, as I understand this setup from the schematics, both tail lights (and the stop lights and side markers and the tag light) are fed by the same current source. How can I have one light out and the other light on? Also, when I grab the light and move it around, it will go out and come back, and I can also watch the right side marker go out and come back on, separately from the tail light. This sounds like a harness issue, but like I said the harness is pretty new, and I had pretty much the same problem with the old harness. Finally, the new harness has terminals attached to the sockets with wires mounted to them, which the old harness did not have. I assumed (there I go again) that these were supplemental grounds. If they are, do I need to run a new ground line from them?

[PlumCrazy]

Sounds like a ground issue, has the car been repainted?  You can try running a separate ground to the terminal lugs and see what happens.  If that doesn't fix the problem give M&H a call, they will help you fix the problem. 

Make sure you try/check the grounds first as that will be the first thing the tell you to do.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

It's a grounding issue.  If you can rotate the socket some, and the light comes on, the the socket isn't making good contact with the light bucket. It could be either paint, or rust causing this problem. As for those extra wires attached to your new sockets, I have no idea... can you post a pic of them?


  Mike

[ChallengerHK]

It's a grounding issue.  If you can rotate the socket some, and the light comes on, the the socket isn't making good contact with the light bucket. It could be either paint, or rust causing this problem. As for those extra wires attached to your new sockets, I have no idea... can you post a pic of them?

I'm not rotating the scket, Mike. I'm pukking the socket out and rotating the whole assembly, end-over-end like.

Just back from another round with it. NEw info: I think there are multiple problems. The tag light was easiest; I forgot to hook it up when I installed the new harness. The right side marker does appear to be ground. On the other hand, I now have no tail lights or turn signals on the right side, front or back.

[Bullitt-]

POSSIBLE THAT ALL THE BULBS ON THE RIGHT ARE BAD?  Same harness feeds both sides & except for the trun signal should have same power sources. (that's shootin from the hip)

[ChallengerHK]

POSSIBLE THAT ALL THE BULBS ON THE RIGHT ARE BAD?  Same harness feeds both sides & except for the trun signal should have same power sources. (that's shootin from the hip)

I thought about opne bad bulb at first. I've seen bulbs where the filament is dangling and will make contact and then break it, although the filaments burn really fast. The rear bulb, at least, is good. I've had problems with teh steering column connectors before, and I'm wondering if I've got an issue there.

[Challenger6pak]

Do you have the ground strap attached under the hood?

[Bullitt-]

Studied the wiring diagram for the rear lights, both side markers & license lamp have comon connection, both backup lights have common connection, both tail lights have common connection with separate lines for each side turn signal. So if left side marker tail & backup light work the right side should work also. Could be ground problem? as each socket needs ground from body, in the case of the tail & backup lights the housing may not be grounded well. 

[Chryco Psycho]

ground is often the problem especially on newly painted cars

[ChallengerHK]

Could be ground problem? as each socket needs ground from body, in the case of the tail & backup lights the housing may not be grounded well. 

ground is often the problem especially on newly painted cars

Car was painted, but about 10 or so years ago. MAACO job, mostly to prevent rsut on new body panels.

As I understand this, the socket needs to ground to the tail light housing, and the tail light housing needs to ground to the body. The first seems easy. Checked out the mounting studs for the housings and they do seem corroded. I'm assuming that, since there's a weather gasket and that little black plastic thingy between the tail panel and the housing, that grounding occurs at the mounting studs, correct? What should I do to improve the ground here? Back off and retighten the nuts to get to some clean metal? Hit them with some dielectric grease?

As for those extra wires attached to your new sockets, I have no idea... can you post a pic of them?

Gonna be busy tonight (getting prints ready for a contest), but I'll try to snap a quick pic and post.

Do you have the ground strap attached under the hood?

I've got a good ground strap running to the radiator support, but I'll double check the contact there.

[PlumCrazy]

 

[Bullitt-]

Before you go to too much trouble you could make a jumper wire to ground your housing to see if that is where you problem lies, if it works you will know what need to be done.

[ChallengerHK]

Glad I can be entertaining 

OK, here's the current deal.
1 - The tag light, like I said, was disconnected. Crimped on a terminal and it works.
2 - Front right running light (not the marker, the light in the splash pan) is a ground issue. Wiggled it around and it went from dim to bright. Will remove the housing, clean up the mounting surfaces, spray with dielectric, and re-install.
3 - That said, I still have no right tail light or right turn signal. I ran a jumper from the housing to the tail panel but it didn't help.

[Challenger6pak]

3 - That said, I still have no right tail light or right turn signal. I ran a jumper from the housing to the tail panel but it didn't help.

It seems you may have had more than 1 problem.  If you have a test light see if you have power on the right side with the parking lights on.  If you do not the easiest place to next check is below the door sill plate.  If there is power on the same color wire the problem is in between the 2 points.  I would check from rear to front and make sure you have power the whole way through.  There are a few connections along the way and one of them could be bad.  I hate wiring problems myself.    Good luck. 

[bb71challenger]

I am having the same sort of problems with my wiring. When I bought my car every light worked except the dome light which I will assume has something to do with the previous owners changing the headliner from white to black. I have changed engines several times and I am thinking I have issues with the bulkhead connector. Could this be the case with your car as well? Bad connection there maybe?