98 Camry Rear light failure warning light on!

[hqfking]

Hi guys,

I have the rear light failure warning light on when I turned the head lights on several days ago. So i checked the rear light and found the tail lights are off. I checked the bulb and only found one of the tail light bulb is blown. I replaced both of the bulbs, and they are still off. And today, I found that when i turned the head lights on, the "R" in the dash board is on too?

Any suggestions? Really confused here.

Thanks

[Mike Gerber]

Check the loom of wires inside the trunk by the driver's side trunk hinge. Open up that loom and look for freyed or broken wires. Fix what you find. The wires inside that loom are exposed to a lot of flexing over the years as the trunk is constantly opened and closed. Eventually some of them frey and break. You may even find obvious signs of bare wires touching each other where the insulation has freyed off. In that case some electrical tape is your best option.

Mike

[kasperjames]

good idea. my right front turn signal occasionally flashes fast when i turn on the headlights, but i think thats another issue. fact is, the turn assembly is broke so i can image the weather its taking on.

let us know how you fixed it.

[hqfking]

just found out that my back up lights are off too. The bulbs are ok.

[fenixus]

even more reasons to check the wiring harness going close to driver side of trunk hinge. years of stretching them while opening the trunk could break some of them. they might be actually shorting out to each other now.

repair what you can, if wire is broken, cut it and re-connect using electrical butt connectors (crimp on type). if simply insulators are worn then you can try securing wires from touching each other with an electrical tape. it could hold years this way if you do this right.

also don't forget to check the fuses behind the coin tray/holder by steering column in cabin.

Originally Posted by hqfking

just found out that my back up lights are off too. The bulbs are ok.

[GreenCohn]

I have the same issue I got the car from my uncle that way and nothing seems to be wrong everything works just the light in the dash is on.

[hqfking]

Just check out the wires, and found nothing wrong. Could anyone give me a picture of the hinge for me to make sure that i checked the right place.

[hqfking]

I only checked the fuse that on the left side of the steering wheel under the ash tray. And everything is ok. Is this the place you want me to check?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by fenixus

even more reasons to check the wiring harness going close to driver side of trunk hinge. years of stretching them while opening the trunk could break some of them. they might be actually shorting out to each other now.

repair what you can, if wire is broken, cut it and re-connect using electrical butt connectors (crimp on type). if simply insulators are worn then you can try securing wires from touching each other with an electrical tape. it could hold years this way if you do this right.

also don't forget to check the fuses behind the coin tray/holder by steering column in cabin.

[fenixus]

I can't remember what other fuses play a role, but I would check all of them.
There also might be some relays present in the circuit as well as harness joint connectors, if you absolutely have no lights in rear and all fuses and relays are good, then maybe the whole rear end lighting harness got unplugged from the rest of car?

[kasperjames]

would this pop up on a obd II check? because i had my front electrical checked, from regrounding my tranny and engine and ran an obd II and nothing popped up, except low pressure on the main pump. which i swapped that out. so...ya, i dont know.

[fenixus]

nah, obd2 doesn't monitor anything per rear electrical systems, it mostly cares of sensors in engine bay.

there is some gizmo device reponsible for detecting the burned out brake light though, perhaps this one is bad? not sure if it would cut power to all lights in rear if it went bad.

there was a thread about it by Mister_Perkins.

[hqfking]

Not all the lights. Only the lights on the trunk lid are off.

[ruggz]

I had the same problem same year checked the wires in the trunk they are wrapped in tape unwrap them i had a broken wire in there that fixed all my light troubles.

[capnblinski]

I have the rear light failure warning light on when I turned the head lights on several days ago.

The tailight warning lamp on my '00 camry came on the other day, and later when I restarted the car it was off - and all the bulbs back there are working properly.

That after two days ago noticing slow cranking after the car has been sitting for seven or so hours. This morning it barely started - but then starts perfectly after driving for a few miles. Something must be draining the battery - a 5 year old 'everstart'. So for now, I removed the trunk lightbulb just in case it could be something simple like that..

[kasperjames]

been their. whats up with that? i would take it in to a auto parts place and get the obd checked out. hit all the electrical on the dio and see if theirs a short. recently rearrange grounds? recently have work done on the car?

my starter went out as this was going on once. i think some dill hole put thet tranny ground on my starter and um, my right turn and head lights had to be changed more then ive ever changed lights on my 97 camry.

thoughts?