When I got home, I verified that that brake lights weren't working. In addition, there are no back up lights, and one running light (driver's side) and one taillight (passenger side) were also non-functional.
I opened the lights up, and discovered a rag-tag assembly of lights that may or may not have been correct. Some were bad, others looked OK, but crumbled when I tried to remove them. The rear connector on the right side wasn't pushed all the way down. The driver's side running light was due to a loose connection. Verified that it worked, and then verified what WAS working altogether:
Working:
Turn signals: L and R
Tail lights: L and R
Side Markers: L and R
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There were some wires chewed up on the driver's side tail light, so I fixed those; here's the tail light itself, with missing wires (thanks rats!):
Here are the parts:
and the tools:
Once I got those solder back together, I went to check the brake lights. Still no lights. Everything else works EXCEPT the brake lights. So then I wondered if there's something else in play. A bad connection somewhere up the line....
After looking at the Bentley (section 97.60-66) I saw that there was a powered set of switches that run from brake to the lights. So I looked around to find these. They are attached to the brake master cylinder (terminology?)(see tracks 80-81 on Bentley 97.65), and I verified that they both have 12v on the Red and Black wire (R/BK) when using the brake pedal.
The Red and Yellow wire (R/Y) which goes to a fuse on track 57 appears to be connected. Since this is presumably the source for the power to the R/BK wire, I assume that both are satisfactory.
This leaves me wondering where I should next check for connectivity...
On track 80 there is a Grey and White wire (GY/W) which appears to go to a ground, but is NOT apparently connected to the lights themselves? It ends witha T7/4 which should be some kind of 7-point connector? And the GY/W wire is #4 in that connector? The power R/BK wire is then #3 in that same 7 point connector? Any guesses as to where that connector is?
I found the other side which is given above on the diagram as "T4a", and which is (I think) the connector below the metal brace just to the left of the rear/lower switch in the switch picture. The connector appears fine, with no chewed wires or frayed areas.
Recommendations as to next step?
Additional note: I couldn't figure out how to check voltage on the rear lights. Can I touch the red probe to the prong at the bottom of the bulb holder, and the black prong to the body? Or does it need to ground to the light holder body someplace? In any case, I couldn't verify voltage even in areas that I knew did work, so I can't be certain that I'm not getting voltage at the brake lights. The fact that everything else works, and that new bulbs didn't solve the problem would suggest to me that the power isn't arriving as expected though.
Best,
Lanval
