mikeloper

With headlights not on, brake lights work fine. with headlights on, neither tail nor brake lights work.


I have checked fuses 6,7,& 8, as well as verifying ground and power contacts are good on rear light assembly.

If anybody knows how to solve this, please let me know.

mikeloper

Looked a few pages back, found joshamo's problem, checked turn signals. Both work, with and without lights on. so does hazards. Still no brake or driving lights with lights on.

Hrmmmmm...

txranger14

i had that problem with an s-10 i had, and it turned out to be the fuse. the brake lights went one by one, and it was just the fuse.

mikeloper

I checked the 3 fuses that could identify as involving rear lights, all were good. Checked ground connection too.

dave1123

Try changing the headlight switch.

rizmonkey

I FIXED IT !!!!!!

I took the assembly out when I got home and the single contact across from the two contacts on the brake socket was melted/ sunken into the plastic. I used a small screwdriver to carefully lift it up then I put some folded aluminum foil under it then re-installed the socket carefully. The first time I checked the brake lights I heard a small pop and nothing worked. I got under the drivers side floorboard and checked the fuse box there and I found the 20A fuse for the brake switch had popped. I replaced it with the spare that was on the fuse box cover and then checked them again and they worked with both the headlights on and off ! I drove around town and ran a few errands and at each stop I checked them and they worked. I'm so happy to have fixed it for basically free other than my time.

RIZ

DON TX

"I took the assembly out when I got home"

What assembly? I have the same problem. Thanks.
DON TX

dave1123

He's talking about the tail light assembly, either one or both. It is common for the plastic to melt when the brake lights are held on for long periods like in gridlock or heavy traffic. Mopar uses the cheapest plastic that will do the job, not high temp nylon or other material that will withstand the heat, like polycarbonate used in headlight lenses. People go to LED lights but then they have to put in load resistors so the flasher will work right.

DON TX

I had the same problem. After your description and a utube vid, I figured out where you were talking about. Thanks mucho. I have a pic.
DON TX