When the headlights (and taillights) are turned on, one of the brakelights stays on. The 3rd light is fine and the right side tail/brake light is fine, but the driver's side light remains in the "bright" mode all of the time when the lights are on. Where should I start my troubleshooting?

 

check out all your driver's side directionals. if a front one is out, the rear one may be staying on to show you the problem. I'd start there. I've seen this in cars before

 

What do you mean by directionals? Do you mean turn signals? if so, those are okay. On the maxima/i30, if one turn signal is out, they other one flashes in double-time to indicate a problem.

 

yea....turn signals. also, make sure all the parking lights(corner lights) work too. Does it only do it when all the lights are on? only when headlights are on? or when corner lights are only lights on?

 

You might have a short at that light...or maybe the bulb is burnt...keep in mind that we use a single bulb with dual filaments so it could be something as simple as that...swap the bulb with the one on the right side to see if thats the problem. Also check your wiring at the faulty light to ensure that the taillight wire is not contacting the brake light wire

 

Good idea on the bulb-swap. AND I will check to see if it is on when the running lights are on, or headlights, or both.

Thanks for the ideas, guys.

The lighting on the I30 was fooled w/ before I got it. The fog-light re-wire was done, and it has cleared tails, though neither of those should affect the tail lights- that I can reason.

 

did louie do the "euro fog light" mod to the car? like on audi's where one tail light stays bright while not on the brakes?

--Paul

 

Paul-

Yeah, that was it. Steve (toolrocks) did it for him. I hope to hear from him about how to reverse it. Can you shed any light on it?

 

Phenryiv1, there is a relay that is double-sided taped to the trunk lid of your new car. It's under the carpet on the trunk lid closest to the light in question. I don't remember exactly how I wired Louie's up so, get access to that relay and untape the connections so that you can tell me the colors of the wires - then I can tell you how to undo it. Talk to you soon. Steve

 

[QUOTE=phenryiv1]Good idea on the bulb-swap. AND I will check to see if it is on when the running lights are on, or headlights, or both.

Thanks for the ideas, guys.
QUOTE]

Is this a recent development?? Have any bulbs been changed recently? I've noticed with the double filament bulbs people have a tendency to put 'em in backwards. Did this once on a Beretta I used to have. When you stepped on the brakes the brighter one would dim... took bulb out, flipped it around and all was fine. I felt pretty stupid about it at the time but it seems ALOT of people do it... at least around here! The bulbs are made to avoid this (one of the little bumps is higher than the other on the side of the bulb base)... but it's not fool-proof and can/will be done.

 

I will take a look at it and post the color codes.

If it will pass inspection like this, I can leave it...but I am not sure about the legality of the lights in their present state.