bulb failure light????

1741 Views 15 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Gnfanatic, Oct 14, 2005

raydawg

Discussion Starter · Aug 13, 2004

ok i searched and found a post about this but it had to do w/ someone switching out lights for LED's. my mom hasnt done anything like that to her car, and the light just came on one day and been on since. it only comes on w/ the brake is pressed then stays on till car is turned off. i have spent like half hour already checking all the lights, interior and exteriour, front and back.....and still no sign of a bad bulb. anyone have any clues on what this prob might be?? i realy want this figured out cuz my mom wants to take it to the dealer to get it fixed and they are gonna TOTALLY overcharge her on this if she does. thanks in advance for any info on this.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

DrewsCam

· #2 · Aug 13, 2004

Check the third break light?

raydawg

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 14, 2004

my moms car doesnt have a third brake light. i forgot to mention this in the first post.
my mom has a 2001 camery SE

amerikim

· #4 · Aug 14, 2004

low on brake fluid?

raydawg

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 14, 2004

i dont know about that...but why would that cause the bulb failure light to come on??

tavalon

· #6 · Aug 14, 2004

are u talking about the indicator for a light out????

raydawg

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 14, 2004

no this light
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=179289

manual says its the bulb failure light when a bulb in the back of the car goes out.

karazy

· #8 · Aug 14, 2004

All new cars made after 1986 are required by law to have the 3rd brake light. It is at the bottom of the rear window. The bulb must be gone, because you couldn't have missed it, otherwise.
If the warning light is still on check the brake light sockets for contamination and change the bulbs if nothing is found. They can look fine, but have an internal fault that may be intermittent.

Sportivo Concepts

· #9 · Aug 14, 2004

If she has a stock spoiler there is gonna be a brake light there... otherwise that little hump in the back window is the 3rd brake light, one of those has gone bad... if both of them are working you need to check your fuses and make sure you do not have a short in the wiring somewhere, and check the connections for all of the bulbs for the tailights... sometimes on a rare ocassion they can get jiggled loose where they are still making contact but not fully connected and this can cause the indicator to come on

raydawg

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 14, 2004

awesome guys. i always thought of the third brake light being in the spoiler, i forgot that they can be in the back window too!! ill check the connects too.
thanks for the input.

raydawg

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 15, 2004

well i think it might be that third brake light. im on my way to work right now so i just took a glance and the cover to the light was all loose and hanging off....so the bulb might be loose or something too. but ill check it out when i get back from work and let you guys know.

burchard

· #12 · Jul 16, 2005

Did you figure you light problem out ?. I have the same problem. The blown light comes on an dall the lights in the car seem to be OK.

Judd sandage

· #13 · Jul 16, 2005

I got the same problem with my wagon, its the bulb in the third tail light sometimes doesnt come on for a few seconds and the Lights light pops on, I took the bulb out cleaned the contacts and put it back in and it works ok for about a month then goes back

epinionator89

· #14 · Jul 16, 2005

burchard said:
Did you figure you light problem out ?. I have the same problem. The blown light comes on and all the lights in the car seem to be OK.

If the light comes on only when you press the brake, it means one of your lights doesn't get brighter with all the rest of the taillights. I've seen cars with their brake lights illuminate normally at night (when the taillights are dim), and then the person presses their brakes and one or two don't get brighter. They just stay at their normal illumination as if the person didn't press the brakes in the first place.

Is it possible that aftermarket lights (like LEDs in place of the standard bulbs) could affect the taillight error indicator light in any way?

couture

· #15 · Jul 17, 2005 (Edited)

Ha, I have had this same problem, it didn't show up until i put in my clear corners and I thought I fixed it and it went away. It goes and comes back every so often its kind of an annoyance. Is this light only for tailights or could it be the headlights also?

edit nevermind i just went out and figured it out, it's my spoiler, the dealship put a stock spoiler on it after i bought the car and for some reason when i kept testing it sometimes it would come on and sometimes it doesn't so i guess i will take it back up there first thing monday morning.

Gnfanatic

· #16 · Oct 14, 2005

hey guys, my fathers car had the same problem. replaced all bulbs, did nothing. then for some unknown reason I found a wire (white0green stripe) in trunk near trunk bar was cut. I soldeered it back now everything works! Dont know how it happened

Ralph

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

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