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Thread: It all started with Water in the Tail Light...

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  1. #1
    NEWBIE GeeMode's Avatar
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    It all started with Water in the Tail Light...

    So luckily me and the wife swapped cars last week or I wouldn't have discovered this...

    As she was reversing about to drive off I noticed that the left side reverse light was flickering (3rd Gen JDM's Amber blinker w/LEDs) so I ran up to get a closer look only to find the whole bottom half of the lens was filled with water. I guess the 2 lower bulbs were shorting out. I stared at the housing trying to figure out WTF happened because I had these tails for about 4 months with no issues. So I take off the taillight to discover that the resistor (big gold lookin one 50W 3ohm) I installed across the blinker to stop the hyper flash had gotten so hot that it actually started melting through the housing causing a hole to form. Ok so I took off the right side...same shit, only the resistor didn't melt all the way thru yet. Not sure why they got so damn hot. So I swapped them back out with the 8G USDM's. Now The problems...

    The first weird issue was my Viper remote start didn't work for a few days afterward. Then it started working again. The next day I noticed a few ticking relays under the hood when the key is "On" I tracked it down to the "Hi-beam" relay and the "ABS" relay. I pulled those and left em out for a few days. I popped them back in today and the ticking seems to be gone. Sunroof, door locks, Headlights work, Hi's and lows. R/L brake lights, hazards, R/L turns all work accept the hyper flash is back because I still have the 1157 switchbacks installed in the front, no biggie for now. The weird shit is now the third brake light in the wing is completely out and my license plate light turns off when I step on the brake and turns back on when I take my foot off the brake. No other issues that I've noticed aside from all that. 99 GTZ by the way.

    I haven't started scanning for blown fuses or anything yet....WTF could be causing this??!

  2. #2
    Install the resistors (load equalizers) in the engine bay on the blinkers in the front corners... each side of the car, left and right are one circuit for the blinkers, front and back, and the resistor will do the job from there; mounting them in the engine bay is much safer because they do get pretty hot.

  3. #3
    NEWBIE GeeMode's Avatar
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    I'll try a different mounting spot after I figure out the problem I'm having now. Maybe something got shorted out because of the water in the tail light. Someone said the front ECU or ETACS ECU but I'm not certain.

  4. #4
    NEWBIE GeeMode's Avatar
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    I just checked. No blown fuses in either fuse box.

    All taillights are working except the third brake light on the wing.

    The license plate light still goes out when I step on the brake pedal and comes back on when I take my foot off.

  5. #5
    NEWBIE GeeMode's Avatar
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    So I started checking the wiring harnesses in the trunk and found a partially severed black ground wire running up the left side of the deck lid to the spoiler brake light and the license plate light. That fixed the issue. All rear lights properly working now accept my trunk light.

    New problem...I blew the 15 amp tail light fuse in the process, I replaced it now my Infinity head unit doesn't power on. I checked the dash panel and under the hood, including the 2 in the yellow holder and I cant find any other blown fuses. Is there a fuse in the head unit ??

    Fix one issue only to cause another...WTF man!!!

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