tail lights not working (SOLVED) OEM trailer light controller burned up
10-01-17, 02:36 PM
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tail lights not working (SOLVED) OEM trailer light controller burned up
just signed up for an account here so i can pass on my experience here with a 99 rx300. Problem was that tail lights did not work and smelled burning. fuse was ok, (10a tail fuse in cabin fuse box) relay clicked on, front marker lamps worked. So I move onward to the infamous lamp failure module that everyone cites as a problem for this issue. Sure enough i take the plastic paneling off and discover the lamp fail module is itself failed. 
(shunt wires were completely burned up) so i begin the process of deleting it to save 300 dollars on a new one. So i start testing out the circuit and discover that both turns and break lamps are all illuminating together. Then i smell burning and hear sizzling from under the spare tire well. oh cool. pull that sht apart and discover that trunk leakage has ruined the oem trailer module, which made it a nice burning hunk of plastic... along with it's wire harness. almost caught on fire it looks. so i disconnect the trailer controller harness from the driver rear tail light harness, was pleasantly surprised to find that you can just bypass it and direct the plug into the tail light, and on the road we are again. wanted to point out that had i just assumed it was the failed fail module and spent 300 on it, i would have thrown that money in the trash. so, if you do have a failed lamp fail module, inspect the factory trailer lamp converter as well. if yours is water damaged, or if their is water around it, just disconnect it completely. if you get a new one, mount it so that it's not on the unibody frame rail like the oem one. thanks all!
(shunt wires were completely burned up) so i begin the process of deleting it to save 300 dollars on a new one. So i start testing out the circuit and discover that both turns and break lamps are all illuminating together. Then i smell burning and hear sizzling from under the spare tire well. oh cool. pull that sht apart and discover that trunk leakage has ruined the oem trailer module, which made it a nice burning hunk of plastic... along with it's wire harness. almost caught on fire it looks. so i disconnect the trailer controller harness from the driver rear tail light harness, was pleasantly surprised to find that you can just bypass it and direct the plug into the tail light, and on the road we are again. wanted to point out that had i just assumed it was the failed fail module and spent 300 on it, i would have thrown that money in the trash. so, if you do have a failed lamp fail module, inspect the factory trailer lamp converter as well. if yours is water damaged, or if their is water around it, just disconnect it completely. if you get a new one, mount it so that it's not on the unibody frame rail like the oem one. thanks all!
Last edited by salimshah; 10-04-17 at 02:09 PM. Reason: Moderation
08-15-23, 10:14 PM
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just signed up for an account here so i can pass on my experience here with a 99 rx300. Problem was that tail lights did not work and smelled burning. fuse was ok, (10a tail fuse in cabin fuse box) relay clicked on, front marker lamps worked. So I move onward to the infamous lamp failure module that everyone cites as a problem for this issue. Sure enough i take the plastic paneling off and discover the lamp fail module is itself failed. (shunt wires were completely burned up) so i begin the process of deleting it to save 300 dollars on a new one. So i start testing out the circuit and discover that both turns and break lamps are all illuminating together. Then i smell burning and hear sizzling from under the spare tire well. oh cool. pull that sht apart and discover that trunk leakage has ruined the oem trailer module, which made it a nice burning hunk of plastic... along with it's wire harness. almost caught on fire it looks. so i disconnect the trailer controller harness from the driver rear tail light harness, was pleasantly surprised to find that you can just bypass it and direct the plug into the tail light, and on the road we are again. wanted to point out that had i just assumed it was the failed fail module and spent 300 on it, i would have thrown that money in the trash. so, if you do have a failed lamp fail module, inspect the factory trailer lamp converter as well. if yours is water damaged, or if their is water around it, just disconnect it completely. if you get a new one, mount it so that it's not on the unibody frame rail like the oem one. thanks all!
(shunt wires were completely burned up) so i begin the process of deleting it to save 300 dollars on a new one. So i start testing out the circuit and discover that both turns and break lamps are all illuminating together. Then i smell burning and hear sizzling from under the spare tire well. oh cool. pull that sht apart and discover that trunk leakage has ruined the oem trailer module, which made it a nice burning hunk of plastic... along with it's wire harness. almost caught on fire it looks. so i disconnect the trailer controller harness from the driver rear tail light harness, was pleasantly surprised to find that you can just bypass it and direct the plug into the tail light, and on the road we are again. wanted to point out that had i just assumed it was the failed fail module and spent 300 on it, i would have thrown that money in the trash. so, if you do have a failed lamp fail module, inspect the factory trailer lamp converter as well. if yours is water damaged, or if their is water around it, just disconnect it completely. if you get a new one, mount it so that it's not on the unibody frame rail like the oem one. thanks all!How did you just bypass it? Same thing just happened to me
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