Taillights not working... Advice?

[StevieRaySTL]

-- So yesterday the dash says 'stop lamp inoperable', so I check the brake lights and they all work. Weird. Then it clears and I think nothing more of it until last night when I turned on my headlights and the dash lights stayed dim. Then when I hit the brakes, the dash lights came on like they were the brake lights. Weirder. So I remove the bulbs and find the culprit, one of the stop/tail bulbs had melted and the terminals had made contact. So today I got a new bulb and cleaned the socket and tested it... Now the brake lights work fine and the 'stop lamp inoperative' is gone from the dash, but my tail lights dont work. So something was damaged while it was backfeeding, anyone on here got any ideas on what I should look for? Ps-- its not a fuse, tested them all this afternoon. Thx for looking!

[StevieRaySTL]

-- 1990 Q45.. Yesterday the dash says 'stop lamp inoperable', so I check the brake lights and they all work. Weird. Then it clears and I think nothing more of it until last night when I turned on my headlights and the dash lights stayed dim. Then when I hit the brakes, the dash lights came on like they were the brake lights. Weirder. So I remove the bulbs and find the culprit, one of the stop/tail bulbs had melted and the terminals had made contact. So today I got a new bulb and cleaned the socket and tested it... Now the brake lights work fine and the 'stop lamp inoperative' is gone from the dash, but my tail lights dont work. So something was damaged while it was backfeeding, anyone on here got any ideas on what I should look for? Ps-- its not a fuse, tested them all this afternoon. Thx for looking!

[Infinitiguy19]

Test the actual Tail/stop lamp sensor.

[goody90q45]

Test the actual Tail/stop lamp sensor.

....mounted below the trunk lock. Take it apart and check the circuit board for signs of melted solder, especially on the ground circuit.

[Q451990]

If you're sure all of your fuses are OK, the next thing I would check is the stop lamp sensor. It's located under the trim in the trunk that's closest to the rear of the car.

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Heath

[Q451990]

I'm merging your IOM thread into this one...

Heath