Having tail light problem, is it from this?

[Mopar]

Hello,

A week ago, I had my car fixed at a local body shop. Ever since it came out of the shop I am having weird issues. First my fog light wouldn't work, so I took it into my hands and took it apart and saw that they forced off the clip which caused the wires to get damaged. I managed to fix that. Then I saw that my tail lights, specifically the driver side tail lights on the car's body( not the trunk ones) don't work along with the license plate lights. I change the license plate bulbs and they worked. I changed the bulbs on the stop light and they don't light up.

I took it back to the shop, they checked it out and told me it is from this "box". It is located right under the trunk lock. They said the power is going into the box but is not coming out, so I need to get a hold of a new box. For the mean while, he inserted a wire and rewired which made the tail lights work for temporary purposes. So my question is, is this something that would happen from this box?

See the pic below

[goody90q45]

What you're showing is the STOP AND TAIL LAMP SENSOR which does have a tendency to overheat its ground circuit internally and take out all the tail lamps but not brake lights. Puts a crimp in your night driving until it's fixed. It's about the size of a 10 pack of smokes. Is there any sign of scorching at the connection on the sensor or harness plug? If you're ambitious and good with a soldering gun the solder joints can be reworked to bring the sensor back to life. I'm very much the noob at soldering but did the repair on mine, after I ordered the $90 part from IOS, and was surprised that it worked again. I still have the new sensor as a spare.

Make sure you're using Sylvannia long life bulbs in all 3 brake lamps to make the next sensor last. Are you also getting a warning on the trip odometer screen? See the EL section of the FSM for more info and page EL-241 to start troubleshooting.

[Mopar]

What you're showing is the STOP AND TAIL LAMP SENSOR which does have a tendency to overheat its ground circuit internally and take out all the tail lamps but not brake lights. Puts a crimp in your night driving until it's fixed. It's about the size of a 10 pack of smokes. Is there any sign of scorching at the connection on the sensor or harness plug? If you're ambitious and good with a soldering gun the solder joints can be reworked to bring the sensor back to life. I'm very much the noob at soldering but did the repair on mine, after I ordered the $90 part from IOS, and was surprised that it worked again. I still have the new sensor as a spare.

Make sure you're using Sylvannia long life bulbs in all 3 brake lamps to make the next sensor last. Are you also getting a warning on the trip odometer screen? See the EL section of the FSM for more info and page EL-241 to start troubleshooting.

Thanks for the informative reply,

It surprisingly killed only my left (driver side) tail lamp only. I mean not the bottom break and not even the top night time light worked. But surprisingly the turn signal works. I took apart the box and everything seems fine, the contacts are fine on both sensor and the harness plug. There is no damage even on the inside solder parts. The guy at the shop put a wire running from one insert to another on the white clip and all is working fine, except I have the warning on the odometer screen when I turn on my lights, it does not come on when the lights are off or when I break.

Am I just better off finding this part from a local junk yard and replacing it?. I mean, how often do these things break? and I doubt the rewiring that he did to make it temporarily run is very healthy for my car.

[goody90q45]

I just noticed you're driving a 98Q but the same should apply. Compare the brake lamp modules that hold the bulbs on each side. Any melting or charring? Are the bulb tips melted or flattened? See anything that wold increase resistance to the sensor?

[Mopar]

I just noticed you're driving a 98Q but the same should apply. Compare the brake lamp modules that hold the bulbs on each side. Any melting or charring? Are the bulb tips melted or flattened? See anything that wold increase resistance to the sensor?

Sorry for late reply,

Nope, everything looks perfectly fine. No melting, no charring, looks as good as new. I installed sylvania light bulbs but I am still getting the "light" on my dash when I turn on my lights during the evening/night. Can it be from the bulbs?

[Q451990]

Are all of your tail/brake lamps functioning now? Was the repair in the body shop to this general area? If so, they should be responsible for it... and I would toss it back in their lap - especially if this was an insurance paid repair. The sensor works by reading the resistance of the bulbs, so if there's a cut wire (due to the body damage you had repaired) that could cause the warning message due to reduced resistance from the bulb that's not "hooked up"

Heath

[Mopar]

Are all of your tail/brake lamps functioning now? Was the repair in the body shop to this general area? If so, they should be responsible for it... and I would toss it back in their lap - especially if this was an insurance paid repair. The sensor works by reading the resistance of the bulbs, so if there's a cut wire (due to the body damage you had repaired) that could cause the warning message due to reduced resistance from the bulb that's not "hooked up"

Heath

All my lights work now, but the warning message is still on. What you said makes sense. Should I try changing the bulbs again?