Location of ground for rear lights? Picture?

[ELVA164]

Damnit...I thought I had an actual response. That is a pretty eloquent bot though...

[11smithjilsss12]

i love all rv3 car...its just awesome

[11smithjilsss12]

A bad brake light ground connection will result in the brake lights not working, or power crossfeeding through the tail-light circuit, preventing both tail and brake lights froms working at the same time. Repairing the connection is a project that is well within the range of the do-it-yourselfer. Have a question? Get an answer from a Mechanic now!
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[ELVA164]

:( Nothing?

[ELVA164]

These things can be really trying.
I am still trying to figure out my own check panel issue. If I start my car with the brake pedal depressed, the rear lights check panel will not clear untill I turn the car off. If I push the panel button, the check on the dash goes away, but the light on the panel stays lit. But.....if I start the car with my foot off the brake pedal, then press the pedal, it all clears like normal. I have replaced both the check control relay and the check panel itself without change.
Good luck with your issue, mine is kicking my ass.

Just in case it's not all in this thread, here's what I've done so far:

Checked for corrosion in each taillight assembly and third brake light assembly
Checked tightness of bulbs in each assembly
Made sure each bulb had a nickel base, not brass
Replaced EVERY bulb...
Checked, cleaned, and replaced the ground pictured in my earlier post
DISCONNECTED that ground and tried the rear lights, which all continued to work
Searched for a ground splice somewhere near the driver's taillight with no success.
Replaced check panel (but only because the one I had broke)

Maybe there's something in there that might help you.

I think the next thing I'll try is unplugging one taillight assembly and seeing if the other behaves the same or not. I know they have a common ground, but you never know.

[FastAndLight]

Yes, new switch was installed also. I am at a loss

And I assume you have traced the circuit paths as laid out in the ETM?

If yours clears when you don't start the car with your foot on the brake and consistently clears otherwise, then at least it is consistent. It might be worth getting used to starting the car like that.

When I ran new stereo wires I really cleaned up the ground in the back seat and I was hoping that would clear up my issues, as it was pretty corroded. It did nothing for the check panel issue.

[Todd Black 88]

Yes, new switch was installed also. I am at a loss

[FastAndLight]

These things can be really trying.
I am still trying to figure out my own check panel issue. If I start my car with the brake pedal depressed, the rear lights check panel will not clear untill I turn the car off. If I push the panel button, the check on the dash goes away, but the light on the panel stays lit. But.....if I start the car with my foot off the brake pedal, then press the pedal, it all clears like normal. I have replaced both the check control relay and the check panel itself without change.
Good luck with your issue, mine is kicking my ass.

Have you tried replacing the brake switch?

I have a similar issue but mine is much more intermittent, some days it will clear fine, others it won't, now I've been a week or so since it last cleared. I have been trying to track this down for the last year. I have replaced the switch and the bulbs and have tried to attack it with a multimeter, but I don't seem to have any voltage or grounding issues.

Does anyone know what the proper resistance is supposed to be across the various circuits? Maybe across the bulbs. That way I could check my lights and see what is up. How do you diagnose the Check Panel to make sure that it isn't the problem?

[Todd Black 88]

These things can be really trying.
I am still trying to figure out my own check panel issue. If I start my car with the brake pedal depressed, the rear lights check panel will not clear untill I turn the car off. If I push the panel button, the check on the dash goes away, but the light on the panel stays lit. But.....if I start the car with my foot off the brake pedal, then press the pedal, it all clears like normal. I have replaced both the check control relay and the check panel itself without change.
Good luck with your issue, mine is kicking my ass.

[ELVA164]

I'm bumping this because I'd still like to see a picture of this ground and/or the splice for the taillights. I've narrowed it down to either a problem here or in the light assemblies themselves, which I can't replace at the moment. Please led me a hand!

[ELVA164]

So aside from still not knowing where the ground and splice are, the only thing I thought of that I haven't 100% ruled out is some kind of malfunction in the plates that hold the bulb sockets. I won't be home until Monday, but the last time I tried to remove one it was pretty stubborn. Are the plates generally easy or hard to remove? That might be a hint to a possible issue.

[ELVA164]

Replaced all the bulbs with new nickel-base ones, tried a different check panel, and all I've managed to do is make the flashing running lights more obvious with the new bulbs. :( Can someone please lead me to a picture of splice 324 and/or ground 300? Is there a separate ground for the third brake light, or is that the same one?

[ELVA164]

Took all of the bulbs out yesterday and a few of the bases looked flattened out. There was a bit of pockmarking on the spring steel they touch as well. Getting all new bulbs today to see if that helps, then maybe I'll swap the check panel and see if that does anything.

[ELVA164]

So I have an update about my first question in the OP and need some additional clarification. The issue with the check light continues, although I haven't looked into it since my last post. I did so this evening and discovered this: The lights all work, but with either turn signal on, the rear running lights both dim with the turn signal lights up. Sounds like a bad ground. I checked for the ground jlevie mentioned located behind the left side of the rear seat; this isn't it, is it?

I don't think it is because I unscrewed it and the rear lights still functioned and behaved exactly the same. Nothing else in the area looks like a ground. Is there another one somewhere else? Left side means driver's side, right?

I had also heard that a splice near the left-hand taillight could be a potential source of an issue. I don't see anything that obviously resembles what I'm expecting, but is this it? Nothing looks spliced around here.


Thanks in advance for any additional info/statements of the obvious that I'm missing.

[ELVA164]

Did you see the parts on Stern's site about the differences in beam shapes and how retarded the US regulations are as compared to Europe (and the rest of the world). That is why I said switching to US lights would be a down grade over the Euros.

Yeah, I guess the only real way to know would be to compare the beams in person so I can see the real difference. I think my plan will be to leave them as-is so I can actually use them soon (go figure, right?) then maybe try the swap sometime in the future for curiosity's sake.