The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?

Many thanks

RickyC

In article ,
RickyC wrote:
The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?

Weird having two tail light fuses.

Have you checked the inputs to the fuses?

Do other lights on the rear clusters work - this should prove the returns
(grounds)

Does it have parking lights where the indicator switch selects right or
left sidelights with the ignition switched off?

--
*Funny, I don't remember being absent minded.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

A fuse is blown or an earth fault at the back of the car.


"RickyC" wrote in message
...

The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?

Many thanks

RickyC

In ,
RickyC wrote:
The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?

No logic here, but every time I've had a wacky fault like that it's turned
out to be a bad earth. Look for a black cable with a rusty terminal.

HTH


--
Gill
usually owns cars old enough to vote

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:31:26 GMT, (RickyC)
strung together this:

The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?

More than likely a dodgy earth. Best bet is get a meter out and see
where the pos\neg go\don't go. No need for guessing then.
--

SJW
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 23:44:15 +0000, Lurch
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:31:26 GMT, (RickyC)
strung together this:

The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?

More than likely a dodgy earth. Best bet is get a meter out and see
where the pos\neg go\don't go. No need for guessing then.

I'm not too savvy on electronics, but I'm thinking that I'd need an
ohm meter with very long wires, so I can clip one on the battery and
prod the other end at various points between it and the tail lights,
yes?

RickyC

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 23:20:28 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
RickyC wrote:
The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?

Weird having two tail light fuses.

Have you checked the inputs to the fuses?

No, but will try and check that tomorrow. If I can figure out which
side of the two fuses are the input.

Do other lights on the rear clusters work - this should prove the returns
(grounds)

Thanks for your help. Yes, the brake lights (second filament in the
same tail light bulbs) work fine. So do the indicators (the only other
bulbs back there).

Does it have parking lights where the indicator switch selects right or
left sidelights with the ignition switched off?

I'm not sure. Why do you ask?

RickyC

RickyC wrote:

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 23:44:15 +0000, Lurch
wrote:


On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:31:26 GMT, (RickyC)
strung together this:


The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?


More than likely a dodgy earth. Best bet is get a meter out and see
where the pos\neg go\don't go. No need for guessing then.


I'm not too savvy on electronics, but I'm thinking that I'd need an
ohm meter with very long wires, so I can clip one on the battery and
prod the other end at various points between it and the tail lights,
yes?


Voltmeter, and sharp pin to pierce insulation.
Cahiis is always 0v - lights should be at +12v.

MAY be a relay in there or somne weiord switch - do the bulbs come on
with sidelights/parking lights?

RickyC

RickyC wrote:

No, but will try and check that tomorrow. If I can figure out which
side of the two fuses are the input.

Pull the fuse out... the side with 12V is the input. If neither side has
12V then that is your problem!

(I found the side lights did not work on my car after I bought it,
checked the fuse and found no feed to it. In the end found there was
supposed to be a small plug in relay on the same panel as the fuse
(located above the drivers footwell) which some bright spark had
vacuumed off when valeting the car prior to selling it!)



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

RickyC wrote:

I'm not too savvy on electronics, but I'm thinking that I'd need an
ohm meter with very long wires, so I can clip one on the battery and
prod the other end at various points between it and the tail lights,
yes?

If you are going to do it on an ohms range then make sure you disconnect
the live from the battery... otherwise the first one you prod will
probably cost you a new meter! A volts range will tell you which bits
are live, so if you find you can trace 12V as far as the bulb then you
know it must be the earth.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:31:26 GMT, (RickyC)
wrote:

Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on

Two fuses ? Both circuits failed ? Start looking at the common
factor; the switch.

Is there a parking switch ? Can fiddling with that make them come on ?

Get your test lamp out (buy one if you don't have one - Blackspur do a
quite decent one for a couple of quid). Test for voltage on the
bulbholder contact, with the bulbs out. Test the output of the light
switch.

Turn the indicators or hazards on, then have an assistant press the
brake pedal. Do the stop lights come on as expected, or do they cause
problems with the indicators ? If so, then it's time to look for earth
faults on the light cluster. (Having a Ford badge is usually an
indication of these)

Do _NOT_ use a meter to test car electrics. They'll still register 12V
OK even through a poor connection, but it can't deliver enough current
to work properly (I once wasted three days unnecessarily
eviscerating a Citroen XM dashboard by having done just that ! )

You'll be wanting a Haynes too, for the wiring diagram colour codes,
if nothing else.

The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK

Are they the right bulbs ? Are they combined tail light and stop
bulbs, or separate ? If it's a fitting for a combined bulb, then
there are options for getting the wrong bulbs in there.

I also checked the two
tail light fuses.

Two fuses - one each side, pretty common on non-Brit vehicles for the
last few decades.

One good place to check is around the rear seat. The wiring loom to
the rear of the car passes through here somewhere and it's often
chafed by the seat, parcel shelf, spare wheel or some other big heavy
lump in the back. There may also be a multi-way connector around
here, which will be a good place to do some more testing and isolate
the fault to forwards or behind it.

When you need electrical bits to fix it, Vehicle Wiring Products (on
the web) do excellent mail order. Car electrics are much easier than
they're made out to be and very few pieces are maker-specific.

"Andy Dingley" wrote
Two fuses ? Both circuits failed ? Start looking at the common
factor; the switch.

I recently had one tail light out (on an old Merc 230E) and it was the
headlamp switch at fault.

In article , "The Natural
Philosopher" says...
RickyC wrote:

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 23:44:15 +0000, Lurch
wrote:


On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:31:26 GMT, (RickyC)
strung together this:


The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the headlight
switch is turned on. The tail light bulbs are perfectly OK (all
filaments light up when fed with 12 volts). I also checked the two
tail light fuses. Neither of them is blown. So the fault must be
somewhere else. Anyone suggest where it might logically be?


More than likely a dodgy earth. Best bet is get a meter out and see
where the pos\neg go\don't go. No need for guessing then.


I'm not too savvy on electronics, but I'm thinking that I'd need an
ohm meter with very long wires, so I can clip one on the battery and
prod the other end at various points between it and the tail lights,
yes?


Voltmeter, and sharp pin to pierce insulation.
Cahiis is always 0v - lights should be at +12v.
chassis :-)

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:59:28 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:


Voltmeter, and sharp pin to pierce insulation.
Cahiis is always 0v - lights should be at +12v.

I like the pin tip - thanks.

MAY be a relay in there or somne weiord switch - do the bulbs come on
with sidelights/parking lights?

No switches that I am aware of have any effect on the tail lights. The
tail lights (and them alone) do not come on whatever I do. The brake
lights (which are another filament in the same bulb) work fine.

PS Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I'll go through the wiring
this weekend until I locate the fault.

RickyC

RickyC wrote:
Lurch wrote:
(RickyC)strung together:

The other day I bought a 1997 Nissan Primera. The battery was dead
when I bought it. Today, I replaced the battery. Now everything
works
fine acxept for the tail lights which don't come on when the
headlight
switch is turned on. Anyone suggest where [the fault] might
logically be?


I'm not too savvy on electronics

Hmm, if you're not too savvy, once you've checked the fuse, the bulb
and for any obvious dodgy connections, might be easier to send to an
auto electrician.

I'm and electrical and electronics engineer by trade, and I threw the
towel in on an intermittent fault to earth, blowing the tail light fuse
on my Frontera.

The electrician had to strip out half the dashboard to narrow down the
fault, which turned out to be where insulation had chafed off over a
bulkhead.

So saved me a days scrabbling about underneath the car dashboard
skinning my knuckles and trapping my fingers.

I think it was about =A370, but well worth it :-)

Rgds

Paul.