Greenbird97

iTrader: (20)

Okay, here's the deal...

Whenever I'm out cruising with friends, sometimes I will have someone tell me that my left brakelight (the entire thing) will not light up when I step on the brake. However, other times it will operate just fine. Whenever someone tells me it is not lighting up and I go to try to check it when I get home (by having my brother step on the brake) it always lights up. I have replaced every bulb in hopes of fixing it but it keeps happening. What could be causing it to sometimes light up and sometimes not? It also seems that when people tell me it doesn't light up, it is when I have lightly pressed on the brakes...? To my understanding, the switch on the brake pedal controls both brake lights? Could the switch be malfunctioning or something? I have a multimeter and test light if someone can point me in the right direction of what I should check.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks.

armintheman

iTrader: (31)

sounds like the sockets are bad. its a commen issue on the front blinkers to do this where it sometimes works and sometimes it wont. the bulb is fine but it just wont work on one side. they sell the sockets at autozone and other autopart stores. just look in the "help!" section and look for gm socket. thats what i think it is. i dont think it has anything to do with your brake pedal sending signal because the other side works and the signal goes back and splits off to both sides so i think its loosing the connection on the split which would be the sockets. just my thoughts
good luck!

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

If all the lights and the blinkers don't work on just one side, you probably have a loose ground wire. That may also explain the intermittent problem.

projectX

iTrader: (51)

I had a similar problem actually

Greenbird97

iTrader: (20)

Ok, I think I will try that. But, say for instance just one of the sockets may be having intermittent problems, would that cause all the lights to not work or just that one socket?

Greenbird97

iTrader: (20)

Do you by change know where and how many ground wires there are per light?

Greenbird97

iTrader: (20)

Since you used the words "had", did you find a fix for it?

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Just the one socket.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

All the grounds travel back to the front of the car and tie in to two ground attachment points by either side of the radiator.

Next time your lights go out, have someone look at your red marker light on the same side and your headlight. If one or both of those are out, it will help you isolate the problem. (The entire side of the car shares the ground on either side of the car.)

Greenbird97

iTrader: (20)

Well I know the headlight always stays on. I have HID's and would be able to tell if it were to go off. As far a the sockets idea goes, it's probably highly unlikely that all 3 sockets are intermittently working right? I just don't want to throw money at it if it's not going to fix anything...

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

All the grounds travel back to the front of the car and tie in to two ground attachment points by either side of the radiator.

Next time your lights go out, have someone look at your red marker light on the same side and your headlight. If one or both of those are out, it will help you isolate the problem. (The entire side of the car shares the ground on either side of the car.)

Greenbird97

iTrader: (20)

Did you mean to repeat yourself, lol?

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

No, I added a look at the marker light and the headlight. They tie in to the same ground wire at different points. If one or both of those are out in addition to the tail light, then that will show you the connection or length of wire that is bad. that is bad. that is bad. that is bad. that is bad.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

No, all of the grounds do not go back to the front of the car. The tail lights are grounded to the body at the rear latch support. Only the front lights use the ground points on the radiator supports.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

oops - sorry. was looking at front lights.