Lamp Failure

[adjones]

I have a 1990 Toyota Camry LE. The tails lights do/did not work. I found the lamp failure modul in the trunk and the shunt was burnt out. I replaced the modul and the lights worked. However, I drove the car on Christmas day evening and experienced a strong smell of burning electronic components. The tail lights no longer worked. The same shunt was burnt out for the second time. Does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this problem.

[PaulPR]

I don't have a good answer for you, but I do know that the wires tend to break in the wire bundle that goes to the trunk lid due to the flexing every time you open/close the trunk lid. Perhaps something is broken/shorted in that bundle causing the faliure of the warning module. Just a guess.

[Sturdavj]

If your smoking shunts, there is a good chance their seeing an over current, …maybe a short-circuit to ground.

As advice given above, I would start at the lamp socket and inspect all the wiring, if possible use a DVM to check/OHM for continuity

[hairball]

I'm surprised you hadn't found my earlier post, but I'll mention it again.

I buddy of mine (an old fart with 40+ years of owning/operating a repair shop) told me this trick and it worked great! I never burned one box at all after I did what he suggested!

Run a fuse between the two green wires on the box (1 is dark green, 1 is light green). My friend suggested a 15 amp for some reason, and it was fine. You won't burn up another box again, trust me! The fuse will blow first!

I'm guessing THIS is what you're finding...


So THIS is the cure...


Please, let me know if this solves your problem like it did for me.

[hairball]

I've gotten 2 recent private messages asking about this again, but I forgot I had deleted the pictures from my PhotoBucket account. Sorry.

Here are the pictures again. Hope they can help someone out there in the Toyota Nation.

This is what to look for on the driver's side of your trunk under the covering:


Once you find it, take a small screwdriver or knife and open it. This is most likely what you will find:


You can always just run to a wrecking yard and grab every one of them you can find, but they are really hard to find! They're usually the first thing to go on these cars at the wrecking yards. But WARNING: if you can find one at a wrecking yard, make sure to open it before you buy it to make sure it's not fried like your old one! (OH, by the way, the circuit board is just sitting inside, not clipped in, so it will fall out when you open the box! Don't open it over a mud puddle! LOL!) Save yourself some headaches! This is what a good one looks like!


But here are the pictures you asked for of mine:

[mmccathron]

Thanks Hairball! THis saved me a ton of money not to mention hair pulling

[hairball]

Glad I could help! Just let me know if it works but I'm sure it will. I went through a ton of them until I learned this trick, but once I did it I never burned out another one or lost my tail lights. Never figured out my old friend's trick or how it works, all I know is it does. And I've never blown a fuse! This is the dream cure!

Oh, IF your lights still don't work, don't panic! Just squeeze the connections a little with pliers because sometimes these connectors don't work like they should.

One thing I did was every time I went to a wrecking yard for anything else I would look for these yellow boxes, only so I could have a spare. Trouble is, they're super hard to find and will most likely be gone from most the cars you check.

And if you haven't got one yet, don't forget to make sure the "new" one is not already burned. They pop apart super easy with a screwdriver.

Good luck!