Rear lights out (yep)

['88 All-Trac]

Tried the search, nothing really covered my issue. If I have the key turned to "on" but don't have the engine running, the rear light failure indicator lights up. If I start the car with the lights on, the light goes out but my lights still don't work.

The brakes lights and turn signals work, it is just the running lights that don't work. Are these symptoms characteristic of a failure of the tail light failure sensor?

I tried the search function but I couldn't find much that was similar to my problem. I'm going to go pull the box and check for failed connections on the board. Hope nothing has failed, the nearest u-pull-it yard is 135 miles away...

[nitronate33]

first thing to check are the fuses in the fuse box.

['88 All-Trac]

The 15A tail light fuse passed a quick visual inspection. Replaced with a known-good 15A fuse (cigarette lighter) and I still have no tail lights.

I'm fairly certain the issue lies in the tail light failure sensor, which is a common problem for the Gen 2 Camry.

Edit: As I had suspected, the failure sensor was at fault. I will modify it with a heavy-duty jumper in place of the bit of wire (I'd imagine a low-quality fusible link) so as to prevent overheating and subsequent failure. It would appear as though the item in question got too hot under load and melted the board. I will allow the fuse to properly do its job instead of a jumper in a hard-to-replace box.

I will post up results in a few.

['88 All-Trac]

Reinstalled the repaired circuit board and all lights now function as they should.

Short-term results are good, I will post up in 28 to 30 days to state how the fix functions long-term. If the fix holds, I can perform this service for anyone who may need it for the cost of shipping the part back and forth.

Edit: After approximately six hours, a new problem reared its head. When the lights are turned on, all rear lights turn on- brake lights and tail lights. It would seem as though a replacement failure sensor is in order. However, the system is functional- hitting the brake pedal with the lights on causes the brake lights to become brighter.

[es250nut]

Most likely you have a single filament bulb installed in a hi/low bulb socket and it is shorting out the two contacts meant for the dual filament bulb.

['88 All-Trac]

Yeah. I had posted the results in another thread I had posted up at the same time. I guess I forgot to put that here.

When I did the tail light swap, I only inspected the bulbs for integrity of the filaments- I did not notice that the lights had been installed in the wrong sockets. The Camry the tail lights came from was otherwise in perfect shape, so I wonder if it was in the salvage yard simply because of that...

[es250nut]

Originally Posted by '88 All-Trac

Yeah. I had posted the results in another thread I had posted up at the same time. I guess I forgot to put that here.

When I did the tail light swap, I only inspected the bulbs for integrity of the filaments- I did not notice that the lights had been installed in the wrong sockets. The Camry the tail lights came from was otherwise in perfect shape, so I wonder if it was in the salvage yard simply because of that...

Well, this is partly how I ended up with my AllTrac. The couple who had owned it had burned out two taillight failure sensor boards and had hardwired around it, causing the fuse to blow multiple times, and they were tired of fighting with it.