86.5 tail light problem

[jetjock]

Cool glad to hear that. Most are good but you will run into the occasional supra snob. What was the problem?

At least the snob can read. He didn't fix it, he rigged it. Yet another example of why most of these cars are a POS. I'm sure the next owner will be pleased...

 

[zby67]

At least the snob can read. He didn't fix it, he rigged it. Yet another example of why most of these cars are a POS. I'm sure the next owner will be pleased...

i did this for afew reasons one they work. and two once i get a second car im gutting my 86.5 and parting it out (for other supra owners looking for parts) along with keeping all parts i need for my 87. also when i got the car alot of wires were spliced under the dash. so i figured afew more splices wouldnt hurt anything so that i had a drivable car. my 86.5 is a drivable parts car with exstensive rust on both rear wheel wells and a bashed in passenger door. so yes till i find another car ill do what ever is nessasary to keep her running. also i was looking at other options to fix this problem on of them was taking the 87's light fail box (yellow box under driver side tail light) i also checked for shorted out wires and almost pulled the 87's light switch and figured that was going to far since the 87 is my project car. so yes it is a rigged way of doing it. but it works and can be put back to stock.

---------- Post added at 04:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:26 PM ----------

sorry to come in late on this one, i had the same issue a while back and it turned out that one of the relays in that circuit died on me, i ended up taking it to a mechanic to figure it out but hopefully this might help someone in the future.

yes theres a relay behind the fuse box on the driver side kick pan that died out on my 86.5 and toyo wanted more then i could spend at the time.

 

[Grandavi]

Another thing, there is a ground wire in the bulb holders that is held in with a screw. Sometimes that wire will just vibrate loose. This is usually noticeable if the bulbs pulse or flicker. Its a screw in the middle of the bracket if I remember properly.

(I am ignoring the other banter in the thread... )

 

[zby67]

Another thing, there is a ground wire in the bulb holders that is held in with a screw. Sometimes that wire will just vibrate loose. This is usually noticeable if the bulbs pulse or flicker. Its a screw in the middle of the bracket if I remember properly.

(I am ignoring the other banter in the thread... )

good point on that. but no screw were lose in my light rails. but it is something worth checking if something simuler happens again.

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

For what it's worth... A relay or the like is the kind of thing that you can get at a wrecker dirt cheap. Even if you DON'T just throw it in your toolbox, they'll only charge you a buck or so for it. Failing that, a relay is a relay, and it's very likely that a $2.99 Autozone relay could do the trick, though you might need to hack it with a couple of pins. Either of these solutions would (or SHOULD) be cheaper than the speaker wire and switch.

 

[Grandavi]

good point on that. but no screw were lose in my light rails. but it is something worth checking if something simuler happens again.

Mine wasn't what I would call loose.. lol.. it was just backed off a bit (surprised me actually). I wouldn't have found it except I decided the only way to fix my dead tail light was to go through everything starting at the bulb. When I touched the ground wire.. the light came on and started pulsing to the subwoofer (looked cool, but I didnt want to give the people behind me siezures.. lol). Tightened it up.. and voila.. no issues. Not sure if it came undone over time or if somebody before me just didnt retighten it correctly.