87 Camry question about Taillights not coming On

[hardyrxp]

Hello,
I have a 87 Camry 2.0 5 speed and had a problem with the taillights not coming on when the lights are turned on. The symptom of the problem is as follows. When the lights are turned on one of the taillights will not light up and the warning light comes on in the instrument panel to let you know. However the taillights do come on when you hit the brake pedal. I fixed the problem by running a ground wire from somewhere on the frame to the taillight apparatus in the back of the taillight. Both taillights when out 1 at a time though and I fixed both by doing the same thing running a ground to the taillight that was not working and was out.
My question is this to everyone what caused the problem in the 1st place and did I fix it properly? I ask this because when I was reading the forums it said somewhere that there is a relay for the taillights located in the rear of the car somewhere did not say where though. So my thinking here is perhaps a relay in the trunk somewhere went bad causing the problem of the taillights not coming on when the headlights are turned on and I did not fix the problem correctly. Can someone please advise me as to what is the proper fix and the cause of this problem with the taillights not coming on when the headlights are turned on? Thanks for you help in this matter as I am sure someone on here has gone through this problem and must know the correct answer please advise.
Dave

[ironhead72]

I did soem research for this as I had the same problem......so far, it appears as though the wire loom running up the trunk hinge can get kinked which causes some wire to break and short the system. That relay you're looking for is a yellow "lamp failure" box mounted in the driver's side quarter panel. Open the trunk, remove the driver side panel that covers this area and feel back there for the relay....trust me, it's there. When you pull the box out, open it up and look for burnt wire....this is your culprit. You need to solder a new wire in place of that one. Just cut out the old one and solder in the new wire. I also went thru that wire loom and spliced anything that looked kinked and secured the loom to the hinge in a manner which wont let it get caught up in the hinge. This has fixed my problem so far. Hope this helps.

[hardyrxp]

Thanks for responding back very helpful info I knew somebody on here would know about this problem. Well in your case you fixed it the correct way good job. In my case (as usual) I fixed it the half ass way by running a new ground to the taillight bulb in question which is like by-passing the real problem and fixing it with a new ground in which I made. I don't like pulling things apart on the car as sometimes the wires can be old and break as the car is so old.
Well please take a look at my other post about the car sagging in the rear and let me know if your car is sagging in the rear as well and what you did to fix this.
Dave