The tail lights in my MY98 OBS wagon will not turn off. They stay on, even when the car is off, they key removed and the light switch in the 'off' position. It's not the brake lights, but just the nighttime-running tail lights, the same configuration as if the headlights were turned on (no, the parking lights are not on).

I did some work on the car today.

1) I spliced a wire in off the gauge cluster. I was wiring a new dash light that I wanted only to turn on with the instrument lighting, so I found the wire that gives +12V when the lights are switched on and 0V when they are off (the power) and used that to power the new dash light. I used clamp-type wire tap to tap this wire, then I verified I had not cut it and and it seemed ok.

2) The rear window washer fluid hose had been severed and was leaking washer fluid inside the rear a-pillar on the driver side. I fixed it with a vacuum hose junction connector and that's working great, but I'm wondering if it could have shorted something.


All I need is a wiring diagram of the tail lights so I can start tracing the short or bad relay. Is there a place I can start? Any suggestions? Maybe there's a bad relay that's fused open from being shorted by the water?

Where is the relay located? I'll guess it's in the main relay box up in the front.. I'll check there now *wanders outside in the dark*

Thanks for any advice you can offer

Eric

dood, not being a smart ass but maybe you bumped the parking light switch on top of the steering column. i did this the other night...thank god the neighbor told me my lights were on or i wouldda had a dead one.

hah!

bah!!

Dude, I know that switch is there... I can't believe I didn't think of that one. I went so far as to rip out the trim in the back half trying to trace down the problem. Sheesh...

*sheepish grin*

Thanks!

Eric

anyone ever think of stickying this topic?

It's already mentioned in the FAQ at the top of this forum. Unfortunately nobody ever seems to read it.

Thing is that I read about that switch a few days ago... It just didn't click in my head.... :-)

Eric

if everybody (including me the first time I did it) had to pay a dime each time we forgot that switch, NASIOC would be running on a 10-server, OC3 connection with 1GB of picture space for every member :lol: