tail lights pulsing

[durty]

just failed my wof (nz mot) on the fact that my taillights dim when the indicators light up so they pulse dimmer at the opposite time to the indicators, any idea where to start looking, also my brake lights dont come on until the pedal is halfway down so it failed on that as well

[chriskay]

Poor earthing for the rear lights pulsing. Brake light switch is probably adjustable.

[ted clutch]

good answer mate. il expand. if the earth wire is bad to one of the bulbs the current will find the easiest path.instead of going out of the bulb down the earth wire to complete the circuit it will raise the voltage at the earth and make the tail lights dim when the indicator is on.this is because a bad earth causes a resistance which causes voltage drop and lower current.there may be more than one earth wire so just unbolt them all from the body and clean them with sandpaper.when it is back together put some vaseline or something like on the earth connections to keep out the air and moisture.good luck.

[Melvin480]

The earth point for the rear lights (and indicators, brake lights etc.) is below the left cluster, close to the corner of the car. It's one bolt where several cables connect to the cars body. Make the cable eyes (or how they should be called, don't know exactly) clean again and do the same for the surface where they are attached to. If you have had a waterleak at the rear lights once (which is common) it is likely that the earth point is oxidated.

Another possibility is that the earth cable has a bad connection to the rear lights itself or has felt out of the connector to the lights.

[B18FT - LOVER]

Good answer guys couldn't have put it better myself, as for the brake light switch u should be able to screw the switch in further to bring the lights on earlier..

[durty]

thanks all, its definately been leaking into the boot a bit so will clean it all up and see how that goes tonight