brakelights not working when pedal is pressed...update

[stealth_s13]

ok...so i searched and looked through all 39 pages of the 240 tech here that related to my issue and executed every new solution and i still dont have brakelights when i press the pedal. i know its inevitable to me tearing the looms apart and looking further but im hoping someone has a rock solid solution to save me from doing so...here is the skinny of what works and dont....brakelight switch...new...second thing i replaced...first was the bulbs. ive checked all grounds...scraped all melted plastic away from ground points and while doing all this managed to get side tracked and did the brown wire snip for the sleepy eye look(which is awesome by the way). im gonna go to the junkyard today and try and source a set of tail lights for my car and see what that does as im a bit baffled because all the lights work in the housings but the mere fact that they were melted leads me to want to replace them anyways despite the fact i did a kick *** job rewiring them. am i missing anything...because from what i can gather is im not the only guy that has been expirenceing this problem but i can also gather that while reading all of those posts(again all 39 pages i went through)it seems there is no real end and that ive yet to see a "WOOO HOOO!!! its fixed and here is how to fix yours"...im hoping after all this is said and done i can be that guy because lets face it...do any of us really like doing electrical...we all would much rather be spending time making our rides faster and cruising...instead of being stuck in the garage cussing and wanting to pour a gallon of race gas inside and tossing a match at it. thanks for reading my novel i will now step down from my soap box

[xekushnr]

im sure you have checked it but you didnt mention the fuse.

[stealth_s13]

yes i indeed have already checked every fuse in the car...3 times...its bizarre that everything works....but when i press that pedal...nothing...ive never been this fustrated with electrical...though im not a automotive electrician i do know a fair bit about electrical and im stumped....its really bad when you have to call friends you used to work with in dealerships and ask..."hey...what do you think it might be?" and they razz you for the fact that you cant do it. i would really like to do this on my own because i am capapble but there has to be something else i can check before i bust out the alligator clips,wire leads,test light and razorblade because im really not looking forward to it...hell who would be.anyways im off to the junkyard to see if i can find some tail light housings.

[ZiG]

Ok, just take it step by step. First see if there is resistance between the bulb socket and the ground. No? Good, then your ground is fine. Now check to see if there is voltage at the bulb socket with the pedal pushed. No? Ok, check it at the switch.. Make sure there is voltage to one side of the switch. If there is, then check the wires from the switch to the bulb socket. If there isnt power to the switch, check the wiring from the battery to the switch.

Take it real slow and methodical, and by the logical process of elimination you will arrive at the problem.

[stealth_s13]

well im gonna replace the socket assemblies to rule them out because some of the sockets were melted then im gonna see what it does...im a large man(6' 3" 282lbs) so getting under the dash is a task and trying to peek my head under the dash to follow the wires for the switch is a pain...guess the dash is just gonna have to come out i guess but i will try what you said zig and ill go from there...im willing to bet its gonna be something so stupid that im gonna freak...im half tempted to take an entire painless wiring harness that i have as a spare for my racecar and just start from scratch but that wont accomplish much. anyways back to the garage to beat the hell out of my car

[ZiG]

When I was wiring up my alarm, i took the driver seat out and put a pillow down over the mounts. Made it much easier to lay down and see under there.

I just had a thought: there isn't one continuous wire that goes from the switch to the bulbs.. There are numerous plugs....

[stealth_s13]

yeah...ive looked at the loom and ive isolated the red wire with the blue stripe and silver spots and the red with green stripe and silver spots and thats the thing that worried me...seeing it spider into 3 different places that i can see and it urked me...i definetly got a chore ahead of me...i guess im not the only guy with a 240 coupe in the area that has this problem with melted socket housings because every coupe i ran across in the boneyard is missing the tail light stuff.

[albert_ey]

I was having a similar problem a few weeks ago and mine turned out to be a fuse. Now, I know you said you checked the fuses, just hear me out. I had checked the fuses too with the good old "if it their isn't a gap the fuse is good" idea. I decided to go ahead and check the brake light fuse with a multimeter and it turned out to be bad even though it looked to be good. I replaced it with another and that's it. Just a thought before you tear your car apart.

[stealth_s13]

ok...i just got done with a fustrating weekend but i am happy to report....i have brake lights now...i found that the wire loom that runs along the driver sill pannel and goes up and over the wheelhouse and into the trunk is quite tightly routed. i tore the looms apart and carefully sliced the wires that go from the switch to the lights right at the point where it goes into the trunk and found a nice clean break to the wire...i would assume from all the years of it being in that tight spot and being stretched and bent so many times...so i modified the area of the trunk where the loom goes through taking a little stress off the loom and repaired the break and re-wrapped the loom back up with electrical tape and stuffed it in some spiffy electric blue plastic conduit...now i just need to find a junkyard that has a 240 coupe that still has its tail light housings and socket assembies unmelted so that i can replace mine.i thank everyone for their help and suggestions especially zig...if it wasnt for him recommending me to "step back" and do a few simple tests there would be a 240 coupe burned out shell at the junkyard right now. i have my sanity intact...well i lost it a long time ago but you all know what i mean...now on to more important things...like making this car faster and more deadly...just gotta find a 5 speed donor car and hopefully it has all the parts i need

[ZiG]

hahaha, no problem man. Glad you got it sorted out.

[stealth_s13]

well...i spoke to soon...popped a fuse on the way to work this morning...replaced with all i had(20A) and the driver side works but the passenger dont...changed the bulb still nothing for the passenger side so its either wiring or a dead socket...im going to the junkyard again to see if i can source a good set of tail lights and might just scavage the rear harness as well and splice it in with a soldering iron and some heatshrink...ill know more friday or saturday...the bottle of race gas is getting closer to the car and the box of matches is close too

[ZiG]

My money is on dead socket. There are SO many people right now saying that their passenger side coupe tail lights are out. So far most of them have turned out to be a melted socket.. I'm just glad mine hasn't gone yet. Though I check it almost daily.

[stealth_s13]

ok zig...now that was one of the first weird things i noticed when this whole deal started...the passenger side sockets and housing are toast but the driver is good...is there a known cause to this issue or am i gonna have the same issue when i find an unmelted set...i would hope that after i replace the housings that the problem will be resolved...why cant this car be as easy to work on as my good ol' oldsmobile 442?

[ZiG]

mmm...american cars. I like working on my 86 trans am, too.. so much more room under the hood!

Anyhow, yeah it seems to be a known issue. The cause, however.. not so much. I'll ask the guys in my local club about it..

[stealth_s13]

cool man...any help is greatly appriciated...the "442" is down for safety improvements and some more power so i am counting on this little 240 to get me around while im doing improvements to it and the "442". so whatever you find out from your car club just hit me up with what you come up with...im still gonna be sourcing some"better" housings that arnt melted from the boneyard...im even gonna cruise over to the local N.O.P. that is in the same area as the boneyards...its a nissan only parts yard and im praying that every 240 owner in the area hasnt caught on to the same problem im having...cause im gonna get all i can from every coupe there because this car is gonna need spare parts because it will be drifted at irwindale when its done

[ZiG]

Yeah, well, screw the whales, save the coupes!



Anyway, nobody has replied to my thread yet.. but I'll let you know.

[ZiG]

Well, I got a couple replies but it seems that nobody knows what the cause might be. I got a few retards saying that the voltage might be too high, haha.

In any case I wanted to let you know I hadn't forgotten.. but yeah, nobody seems to know. I guess you might just have to take your chances with a junkyard piece.

[stealth_s13]

well zig i went to a nissan only junkyard and almost nutted when i seen the rows of 240's and 300 z's...all there for the picking...all with major damage too...thats where the crying came...but i scored 3 sets of what look to me like brand new tail light assemblies...got one set from a totaled 92 coupe,1set from a rolled 91 coupe and 1 set from a driver side t-boned 92 coupe...i dont think the driver walked away...but man these things were un burned...they look like the one i looked at at the dealer. i also talked with the owner of the yard and he is willing to sell me an entire 5 speed swap guranteed to work for 600 bucks..thats of course exchange for my trans and the parts that come off of it during the swap so ive got that all taken car of because the 5 speed donor car i have turns out that the trans case is got a nice crack in it. anyways the lights work and its still a mystery on what causes it...but i would like to say...EVERY 89 coupe there has severly melted passenger taillight assemblies

[ZiG]

Cool, glad to hear it worked out.

Sounds like a real nice yard..