Electrical gremlin

[Tbev]

Hi all,
So I sent my roadster (MKIV/coyote/tkx) out to the body shop and all of the electrical was working. I get it back and now my brake lights do not work and the right directional and hazards blow a fuse every time I use them. I am not blaming the paint shop by any means but I just can not figure out what may have caused this problem. I have checked all the wires for possible damage and have not come across anything.
Any ideas?
Thanks

[RBachman]

Check the wiring on the rear lights, sounds like he switched a couple and has it going directly to ground.

[CraigS]

I agree. They may have cut the harness close to the rear lights to remove them for painting. Then reinstalled but got the wiring mismatched. Start at the right rear light harness.

[Tbev]

Thank you RBachman and CraigS. Must admit I am feeling a bit stupid this morning. It never crossed my mind that I never told Ron at Metal Morphous that the turn signals are side specific since I used Weatherpack connectors. The rear was actually fine, it was the front that was reversed. Switched the wires and it works perfectly. Now I just need to figure out why one of the fronts is dimmer than the other side. It looks like there is a bulb out but they are LED so I'm not sure if its a faulty LED or a possible ground issue. It's always something! Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

[michael everson]

Ground issue
Mike

[Tbev]

One problem solved and now I have another smaller one. I'm sure Mike is correct regarding the ground issue with my front running light/signal light. One side works fine. The other side works fine when the headlights are off. When I turn on the running lights/headlights the running light and blinker on that one side are much dimmer then the other side. Turn the lights off and both blinkers are bright. If this is a ground issue, where do I look? I'm hoping someone smarter than I can explain why the light is bright with the headlights off and dim when on. I appreciate any help!

[RBachman]

If you're using chassis grounds instead of direct, start there. You can run a secondary ground directly to the battery. Also check to see if polarity to the LED's is proper, and that you are using LED compatible solid state breakers/flashers.≥

[rich grsc]

Thank you RBachman and CraigS. Must admit I am feeling a bit stupid this morning. It never crossed my mind that I never told Ron at Metal Morphous that the turn signals are side specific since I used Weatherpack connectors. The rear was actually fine, it was the front that was reversed. Switched the wires and it works perfectly. Now I just need to figure out why one of the fronts is dimmer than the other side. It looks like there is a bulb out but they are LED so I'm not sure if its a faulty LED or a possible ground issue. It's always something! Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

If it worked before, I would have just switched the whole fixture. It seems most likely it is wired incorrectly?

[JeffP]

I'd double check your wires on those LED signals.. One is dim one is for bright and they aren't logically color coded - IE black is not ground so its very easy to mess up.

[Tbev]

183878

Thanks to everyone that replied. I will be looking into everything that was said. Here is a picture of what it looks like. With the headlights off both running lights are the same brightness as the passenger side in this picture. Turn the headlights on and the driver's side goes dim.

[Tbev]

So it crossed my mind in the middle of the night, maybe the drivers side running light is correct when the headlights are on and it is meant to be dimmer and gets brighter and then dimmer with the blinking of the turn signals or hazards. Can someone confirm for me if the front running lights change brightness when the hazards or turn signal is on, or do they just blink on and off? Thank you.

[rich grsc]

A two element bulb, bright for turn lights, dim for running lights.

[Jeff Kleiner]

So it crossed my mind in the middle of the night, maybe the drivers side running light is correct when the headlights are on and it is meant to be dimmer and gets brighter and then dimmer with the blinking of the turn signals or hazards. Can someone confirm for me if the front running lights change brightness when the hazards or turn signal is on, or do they just blink on and off? Thank you.

The running lights use the low element and the signals use the bright. With headlights on the low element will be on and remain lit constantly then when the signals are activated the bright element will flash. So when the lights are on and the signal activated the lamp will cycle BRIGHT...LOW...BRIGHT...LOW...BRIGHT...LOW... With the lights off the signal cycle will be BRIGHT...OFF...BRIGHT...OFF...BRIGHT...OFF

Sounds like you're miswired and have the bright and low elements reversed on the passenger side. Looking at the photo the driver's side intensity appears correct for running lights and the passenger side seems to be bright as it would be if the high element was activated.

Jeff

[RBachman]

I did LEDs all around on mine including the headlights, and also ran grounds without using the chassis as a ground without any issues. If you are saying that the light "blinks" between bright (normal) and dimmer, then it's supposed to do that to signal a turn. Do you have video?

[Tbev]

First I want to thank everyone on this thread for their help and Paul, Edwardb, who responded on my other thread regarding my electrical issues. When I figured out the issue my first reaction was, I'm not telling anyone. I felt so foolish. But then I realized that their is a lesson here and this forum is all about learning and helping others. So my lesson is, always start with the easiest and simplest solution to whatever problem you are having and work up from there.
So the solution to my problem was to check the LED bulb on the drivers side. The bulb was in and turned halfway, which I'm guessing is why it worked partially. I turned it all the way to the right and both driver and passenger sides work perfectly now. I'm assuming that it was slightly turned during assembly at the body shop since it had worked properly before going to paint. Lesson learned. Please feel free to laugh at my expense, someday I will also find this funny. :)

[Jeff_J.]

No laughing at you unless we all laugh at ourselves. My gremlin was the hazard light switch, stared at it for a long time till the fix finally came to me. Glad you go it figured out.