Rear Running lights dont work...?
 

the tail lights are supposed to illuminte at night while driving and not on the brake...mine don't :scratch: all the fuses that I thought would be relate checked out to be okay is there some odd fuse that it uses or and under the hood fuse possibly :question: the turn signals and brake lights work fine....im lost:banghead:

-Jim

does yor dash and horn work?

dash lights dont work but the horn does

parking lights? those are on the same circuit (either black/red wire or red/black wire). in my car at least; 91 n/a. i had that wire burn which caused my rear lights and parking lights to not work. also, those lights on the front of the car on the sides. i believe those, parking lights and rear lights are all on same circuit. my wire burned under the dash near the blue connector.

did u install a new radio?

well the rear lights work just not when ur driving at night and dont have the turn signlas or brakes on

no radio but my fried had that happen whats the story behind that anyway?

looks like me and your friend have the same prob but some guy told me to reground the radio from the frame and check the "illum" fuse

I had the same problem a month ago. The problem is the switch for the running lights/headlights. You will have to replace it, or check the soldering if you are electronically inclined.

.....what?? so the rear lights work unless you trun your turn signal or brakes on?? i'm too confused to try and help.

and dont go replacing parts. thats bad advice. theres a chance its the problem, but do you wanna spend time and money fixing a maybe? of course, i'm completely confused as to what your problem is, so maybe i'm missing something that _could_ only be a switch. who knows.

A switch can be found for 10 or so bucks. If he doesn't know anything about electronics, then its a cheap fix.

He described my problem exactly-running lights and gauge lights dont work, but the brake lights and turn signals work. I traced the problem to the switch after checking all the fuses and all the wiring (Im not the most electronics inclined person out there--although I was able to do an S5 NA cluster swap into an S4 TII ;) ).

Anyway, from his description, I believe its the switch.

no no they ony light up when the turn signal or brake is applied

were is the switch located @? i have a GXL parts car that all the stuff used to work on so i could yank it off that.

its only a cheap fix IF its the problem. his situation is weird and i dont have a schematic, so i cant say it definately ISNT the switch. its cheap to try, but its only a fix if the switch is indeed the problem. my problem, for instance, was a wire. i could have replaced the switch 50 times and the lights still wouldnt have worked.

problem is, neither the turn signal nor the brakes are part of the same switch as the tail lights.

the switch is located in your hand when you turn the lights on. thats the switch. it has circuits and wires in it.

sounds like a strange shorting issue. your rear lights are getting voltage when you apply brakes or use your turn signals...

Ok lets start over, You have 360 posts and I doubt you got that many posts by being as incoherent as your posts here were.

Ok we have figured out your dash and taillights have failed, you have checked the obvious fuses.

Questions:

Do you or do you not have a radio?

Do you have front marker lights?

Do the lights come on (Front, rear or dash) when the brake pedal or turn signals are being used?

Can you get your hands on another light switch to test with?

i have 360 posts and ive owned 5 first gens and 2 second gens obviosly not smart with second gens
stock radio
yes
no
yes

You have a parts car? That's great!!!

All you need to do is remove the gauge cluster surround. There are three screws on bottom of the top part of the cluster and two large screws on the bottom of the cluster that you must remove (do not remove the two smaller screws on the bottom of the cluster which are located on the outside part)

Before you remove the cluster surround, you have to remove four screws beneath the steering column so that you can remove the cover. This will make it easier for you to pull out the gauge cluster surround.

Once you have removed he steering column cover and removed the screws that hold the cluster surround, you can pull out the cluster surround. Once you have pulled out the cluster surround, you have to unplug the harnesses in the back (4 in total) which connects the defroster/headlight pop-up/headlight switch on the left and the hazard/wiper/cruise switch on the right.

After unplugging the harnesses, you can completely remove the gauge cluster surround.

The switch unit you need to remove is the one on the bottom left (the switch you use to turn the headlights on/off). There are two screws that hold it in to the gauge surround.

Replace the bad switch with the good switch.

Reverse the procedure to put the gauge surround back...good luck and let me know if you have any more Qs.

ok blue or yellow

The VERTICAL one on the back which is the unit that controls the defrost/light pop up/light switch.. :bigthumb:

NOT the HORIZONTAL unit which is the signal switch.

It's pretty straightforward. Pry the dial out gently with a screwdriver (GREEN). Don't touch the pop dial or the defrost dial.

Remove the small screw from the bottom on the outside and the screw that is holding the unit inside (PINK)...

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...chmentid=78437

I would bet that either the harness or switch side of your headlight switch is burnt/melted.

OK here's the deal. Due to many years on an underengineered electrical system, corrosion ups the resistance to a point where the headlight switch and/or it's related harness melts.

Fix the switch and/or harness then put a 30A relay on the taillight circuit.

Putting in a new switch/harness alone won't last for long. The relay is the solution.

Some related threads. I've been there, done that, as the kids like to say.

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/stupid-lights-got-me-ticket-332965/

http://www.teamfc3s.org/forum/showth...&threadid=6939

Cheers

my wires behind the guage cluster melted, wish i had a parts car :(

previous owner had tried to wire up fog lights and it melted more than the guage cluster wires, i wired the parking lights up to the fuse box and it worked for a few months but now it doesnt work at all.

no fog lights

ok good deal im going to do this later this mourning...hopefully it works
-Jim

mine has them