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So my car sat for a while due to the injector wiring issue that I recently got taken care of. During that time the tail lights and parking lights decided not to work.
I know the parking / tail lights are all on the same circuit. I looked at the fuse, it looked fine, but I still replaced it and that didn't work.
A possible cause is that one of the drain hoses in the back left side of the trunk came loose, and filled the little side compartment with water. I know this is where the tail light failure box is, so could the water have ruined it? However that also make the parking lights stop working?
Any of you have multi-meters? Check that power is getting to the correct terminals on the relay and fuse while the circuit is powered on. If NOT, follow the wiring with the multimeter until you get +12V, and find out why it doesn't go past that point anymore. If it IS getting to the relay and fuse, follow it back to the lights until it stops getting 12V and you've found your problem. I know I've simplified it, but that's really all you can do.
ive never used a multimeter.... guess ill youtube it. thanks for the help.
You can get a cheap tester from autozone that has a light on one end and aligator clip on the other.... However, you can't get exact voltages that's why I prefer a multimeter. They really aren't hard to use, just don't get a complicated one. I can make a youtube tutorial if you need me to man.
thanks scottys209. i think i can prolly figure it out. ive borrowed one to ohm out injectors before. just gotta google or youtube the settings and ill get it done. thanks again.
If anyone ends up needing a brake light switch, I've got one. Never installed and brand new. Still have the original bag it came in as well. Toyota Genuine. Let me know if you need it. I'll sell it to you cheaper than retail from the dealer.
Haven't had time to diagnose it, but I'm pretty sure it's the switch or tail light relay.
My question though is would a bad tail light relay also cause the other lights (parking, side markers, license plate) not to work as well?
Because the "Tail" circuit contains, and I quote "Tail lights, parking lights, side marker lights, license plate lights" So the relay if for all of that goodness. So it's not the switch. I'll pull my multimeter out tomrrow and figure out how that circuit works and figure it out from there.
Gotta figure out what comes first, the relay or the fuse, I would guess the fuse first, so then I'm pretty sure I gotta figure out where that circuit feeds from.