back-up lights, brake lights, etc.

[RidgetownRick]

Totally new to this forum and I'm so glad to have found it.

In my 92 Camry the reverse lights are so dim that they can't be seen in daylight and can barely be seen at night. When I apply the brakes the reverse shift position light on the gauge cluster lights up and the indicator light on the dash tells me lights in the rear are out (this light remains lit after I take my foot off the brake). To me this sounds like either an open ground or a short, possibly in a plug or relay some where. Where do I start looking? I have checked bulbs and the all LOOK to be working OK.

[Eye8Pussies]

not sure about he dim reverse lights since that sounds like either bad bulbs, not enough voltage, or maybe the plastic is really fogged up

for your rear light out light on your dash, it is usually a short- check your trunk lid area where the hinges are- there is a harness for hte lights that go through there and it usually snaps and may get grounded

[RidgetownRick]

I checked all the bulbs, connections and connectors and cables in the trunk area once, but when it warms up a bit I will go out and check it all again. Maybe I missed somthing. My question would be: why would the rear lights indicator not come on till I touched the brake, then it stays on until you shut the car off? And why does the R indicator light on the dash come on when you apply the brakes? This is why I suspect the dim back-up lights and other issues might be related (back up lights only come on when car is in R).

Also, all the things (dim back-up lights, reverse indicator coming on with brakes and rear light warning) started at the same time which suggests they are connected somehow. I found a post on-line with exactly the same issue, though that person didn't get a solution through the forum they were asking. If it has happened twice, I'm sure it's happened more times, and I am hoping someone on this forum may have seen this problem before and know right where to look. My local Toyota shop say they've never seen it before but would be willing to take a couple hundred of my dollars to TRY to find the problem (no guarantees).

[the_professional]

The Light Out indicator will come on
- when you turn on the running/parking lights, that a running light filament is out.
- when you press the brakes meaning a brake light filament is out, that is why it would come on when you press the brakes and stay on to remind you.

The rear bulbs are dual filament, one for parking lights one for brakes.

The Light indicator only comes on for the brake and running lights in the rear (excluding license plate bulbs), nothing else.

I would check to see if the reverse bulbs are getting adequate voltage as they are dim. & I would suggest you take a look at the wire loom from the car onto the trunk lid.

[DarkMastyr]

Heh I've got the same problem recently. Tail lights out indicator on. Reverse gear shift bulb next to the speedometer lights up when I press the brakes and turns off when I release. The two tail lights in the center section turn off whenever I press the brakes, then come back on when I release. All the dual filament bulbs still work though. It's like driving a clown car.

[Kenny_McCormic]

Just cut the wire that powers the stupid light(the lamp failure box has direct control of the idiot light).

[Eye8Pussies]

lol

sounds like a grounding problem to me too then


and I took the lightbulb out of my dummy light years ago...

[Kenny_McCormic]

You can clip the wire faster than tearing the dash apart.

TO DISABLE THE LAMP FAILURE IDIOT LIGHT, SIMPLY CUT THE SMALL YELLOW WIRE W/ GREEN TRACER FROM THE LAMP FAILURE BOX.

[DarkMastyr]

Friend of mine has a Gen4 with the same issue... her family decided to use electrical tape and just cover up the lamp failure light. Even easier than cutting any wires.

[RidgetownRick]

OK, it got mild today so I started checking the voltage to my back up lights. With no bulbs in the sockets there is 12 volts at the socket. If I put one bulb in, the voltage drops to 5V. When I put both bulbs in, it drops to about 2.5 V. What the heck is happening? Any ideas? All the wiring that I have been able to see looks clean and sound, even at the trunk hinge.

As for the idiot light on the dash coming on when I touch the brakes, I guess I'm the idiot because I found a bulb that was burned out that I somehow missed before.

However, I still haven't figured out why the Reverse indicator bulb in the dash is coming on when I touch the brakes.

If anybody has a suggestion about either this problem or the low voltage problem, I'm listening.
Cheers.