Has anyone had the following happen? 1994 SC3 for reference.

Note: throughout this whole process, the left side tail light works fine.

I was driving along normally today, headlights on. I throw on my right blinker and all of a sudden its blinking way fast. So I figure a bulb in the rear is out because I see in the bumper ahead of me that the front signal is flashing rapidly. I get home and decide to take a look in the rear with the blinker on. I get back there, and I find that none of the 3 turn signal bulbs are flashing, but instead the one corner 1157 taillight/brake light bulb is blinking very fast. Now this light should never blink under any circumstance, it is just a tail light/brake light.

So I think to myself, maybe the brake light part of that tail is not working. So I wedge a shovel into the brake pedal and get back there to look. Now what's on you ask? Now nothing is blinking or even on except for the REVERSE LIGHT on the right side. So I go back to the cabin and flip the right side turn signal on. Now the reverse light starts blinking, but I still don't have any other bulbs on except that reverse light.

Now another weird part. While this is happening, when I step on the brake in the cabin, the dash shows a dimmed out static light on the right hand turn signal. It's not as bright as it would be if it were blinking, but its on and static when my foot is on the brake. Also, the R in the dash becomes illimunated at half brightness (I assume it comes on because the one reverse light is also coming on when I step on the brake).

Anyway, long story short, I'm taking out the tail light and after I got the bolts off it was stuck a little. So I wiggled it around and it popped out with a bit of force. Guess what? MAGICALLY everything starts working just as it should. So what are the powers that be? Just a weird bug...but what causes such a bug? I checked all the wiring and nothing is disconnected or even loose. What gives?

 

bump....it happened again today, same as I described. I opened the trunk and gave it a smack and it worked properly again...


I'd rather try to avoid having to smack my taillight every other day to make it work properly...anyone have any ideas?

 

With the problem, does the cluster behave like disco lights when you also have the brakes/lights on too?

If so check for a strong earth connection. It should be near the cluster

 

not really disco lights, but the R part of the cluster comes on dimmed and the right hand turn signal light comes on dimmed, other than that, no other lights....is there a ground somewhere near the cluster?

makes me think something is wrong around the tail light area itself, since when I smack the tail light, it works properly. My guess is over normal driving bumps and stuff, it gets knocked back out of whack. I checked all the wiring to and from the tail light and it all seems normal?

 

Look closely at the harness where it plugs into the taillight, there may be some corrosion in there. Clean it out with a few sprays of battery cleaner if it is corroded and green looking in there, then rinse it with a light spray of water. Use some air pressure to blast the rinsed crap out and spray it with some white lithium grease and plug it back in.

 

thanks for the tips, i will take a look next time it decides to act up...

 

Mine did something similar a few months ago. It turned out that the tail light bulb holders were badly corroded and it was not grounded properly. Also do a "wiggle test" for connectors; my check engine light came on and my traction control shut down just recently. I almost sold my car because I hate electrical problems. It turned out that the relay in the hood area for the traction control came loose after I went through a few pot holes. Good luck