Ok, I was doing some body work before (rear rain channel at base of hatch) and moved the wiring off its hangers so I could grind some rust. Anyway, after doing that its all messed up. I press the brakes and the brake lights and turn signals both light dimly. The rear defroster light also comes on. Additionally if the car is on and I press the brakes the fuel pump stops. I checked around to make sure I didn't cut/grind any wiring, and I didn't. I started checking the junction in the drivers bin with a test light, and it seems the problem is in the rear harness. Now heres the really f'ed up part, with the test light on the fuel pump wire (at the large junction plug) it stays lit, even when the pump stops pumping (when I step on the brakes) so now I'm really confused. Is there some common ground thats messed up or something? I'm pretty sure me moving the wires out of the way and this happening are unrelated. Any help would be great. thanks guys.

 

Well, besides the two that use the studs off of the rear taillight assembly, I haven't done enough electric work back there to know of any other major grounding points off the top of my head...

 

I'm not seeing any grounds on the mounting studs. the car is an 83, although I don't think it would matter. The weird thing is I can't seem to find *any*grounds at all. The main junction plug under the bin has no ground wire at all. the only time I see a black wire at all is when it pops out to plug into something like the lights.
One additional thing I should mention is that unplugging both tail light assemblies makes the fuel pump run fine, altough the lights don't work obviously.
For some reason I have this feeling that I've read of this before, but I can't for the life of me remember for sure. dammit this sucks.

 

I've got an '83 also, stock, unmolested back there....let me get home and I'll post whatever I find if you haven't solved this problem by then...

 

well, turns out my hunch was right, it was a common ground that was to blame. Oddly enough its a little 16ga pos wire that grounds on the hatch release. I had removed the release to get under the to por15 the rust thats running rampant along my rain channel. Reconnecting that fixed the problem. Its a shitty *** design if you ask me. I'm definatly gonna do some rewiring on the project car to avoid this. thanks for your help mario