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Hi FrankS,
From your description, there appears to be more than one issue at hand. With regards to the rear brake lights, those should be dual-filament bulbs. One filament is lit when the parking lights or regular lights are on. The other filament only becomes lit when the brake pedal is depressed. Check to make sure that both rear brake bulbs have working and intact filaments. Usually a visual inspection can help determine if the filament(s) is broken.
The rear turn signal bulb is typically a separate bulb from the rear brake bulb light. Ensure that the rear turn signal bulb is in proper working condition. Also, check the female connector that the bulb is placed into. Corrosion and high resistance at the bulb connection can create an “open” circuit, which will create the issue you are experiencing.
One last suggestion is to double check your front turn signal bulbs as well. The “very fast sound” signal is the typical indication that a turn signal bulb is not working properly (due to a blown bulb or bad connection). Good luck and keep us posted.
Actually on many tail light circuits the turn signal filimant and the brake light filimant are the same so if you are having issue with both the turn signal and brake light this would make sense and be a related problem. I would be looking to see if the socket for the bulb was getting a signal when you depress the brake or use the turn signal, if you have voltage there when you depress the brake pedal or use the turn signal you either have a bad bulb or a bad connection to the bulb at the socket. If you don’t see a signal there you will have to follow the circuit back till you find where it is broken, a good wiring diagram will be your friend here.
Thanks for all the help everyone and the welcome to the forums! I was able to confirm a few things: 1)I do have the correct bulbs (dual filament), 2)I do have front turn signals, 3)the brake lights do not work when I depress the brake pedal, 4)I do have backup lights and rear taillights (when the headlights are on).
I think you’re right Eric…I’m going to try to get ahold of a wiring diagram and do some more research. I will let you all know what I come up with so that if anyone else has this problem they can follow these posts. Thanks again for your suggestions…it’s helping me pin point the problem! 🙂
FrankS
[url=http://i41.tinypic.com/2imbcw3.jpg:34816830]http://i41.tinypic.com/2imbcw3.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/fei4xu.jpg
I[/url] hope I got you the right one’s here. These are for a 99 Tahoe. Notice that the page with the turn signals starts with C104 at the top. You need the other page which shows you the power distribution to that particular connector.
Hope this helps
~Drew
Just out of curiosity – according to my schematic, the turn/stop function is the same filament on the bulb, so what happens with the tail lamps when you turn the hazards on?
Also, since the rear turn signals/brakes go through the hazard switch, if it’s not allowing current to go to the rear lights that would cause the fast flashing just like a bad bulb. Maybe cycle that switch back and forth a few times or jiggle it while on the brakes, see what happens.
Hi everyone! Ok got it fixed…and it was a rather simple fix… I disconnected the taillights and gave the an extreme examination. What I found wasn’t good (not too bad though compared to a turnsignal switch replacement). The bulb sockets had corroded under the di-electric greese (which I didn’t see the first time I examined them)…after trying to clean the light sockets there wasn’t much left and voltage was questionable all over the socket board. So, I went to the local auto parts shop and got two new socket boards and tried them…and it all worked again! Thank you all for your help in trying to solve this…staying dirty is good…except for this case! 🙂
Frank
Observation is probably the cornerstone of any good diagnosis, well done. Many times when confronted with that problem I often find a problem with the sockets or the tail light assemblies themselves, I’m glad you got it sorted out and thanks for posting the fix it will go on to our database where it will help others with similar problems.
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