The wagon was rear ended 10 months ago.  The back hatch will not open.

In order to re-register the car with a salvaged title, I had to get an official lights and brake inspection done.  The garage that did that replaced the combo tail/brake light bulb on the passenger side of the hatch.  As I followed my wife home from the garage with the light certificate in hand, I noticed that the driver side hatch brake light was not working!  Some inspection!  The certificate indicates that all the bulbs are functional.

So, I bought another bulb and went to install it and discovered that the tail/brake bulb socket on the driver side hatch was shot.  the round plate that holds the two contacts in the socket was melted.  While doing that, I noticed that the tail lights were not coming on either side when the headlights were on.  I tested and re-tested for voltage on the sockets and the tail light contact was dead on both sides.  I removed the 4 prong connector that connects to the tail/brake bulb and the reverse light bulb, no power for the tail light at the connector either. Brake lights work normally and there is voltage at the melted socket for the brake light.

All fuses look and test OK.

Parking lights do not seem to work.

I looked under the dash and found one cut wire that had very dusty electrical tape, so I don't think that is it.  I'm wondering if the mechanic messed with it in some way, so I would have to come back.

I honestly have no idea if the tail lights were working before we took the car in, because we almost never drive that car at night, and definitely don't follow it around at night.

Advice is humbly requested as what/where to look, test, etc.  Thanks for reading this long post!

Keith

 

 

I forgot to mention that the license plate lights do not come on either when the headlights are turned on.

Keith

license plate lights are most likely either bad bulbs, or a problem with the wiring that goes thru the hatch. not uncommon to have broken wires at the hinge point from fatigue

not sure how good you are with wiring diagrams, but you can find factory service manual for your car here

starting at the back, work your way forward

also, dont forget about ground wires.

There are connectors on each side of the rear hatch behind the side panels.  

You need to get the hatch open to remove the side panels unless you want to destroy them.

A local yard that you can go into is a great resource to pull the panels and see how everything goes together.

Your meter can lie to you.  Check out LOADpro.  

Every circuit has:

Load

Ground

Power

As said before get the diagrams and work through them.

Is there a relay related to these lights?  I don't see anything labeled as such in the fuse/relay box under the hood.

FIxed it!  Turns out it was a blown fuse under the dash after all.  Thanks for your help!  

I feel like a rookie.

Glad you found it that easily! Wiring issues can drive ppl nuts trying to find it/them, and some businesses make some good coin trying to chase the problem too. 

Cheers 

Bennie

Glad you got it.

You have to ask, what made the fuse blow?

maybe pinched wiring harness somewhere - in the gaiter/conduit from body to hatch? related to original collision?

Or the mechanic messing with the system while it was live? 

Or that dodgy light socket you found could’ve done it too. 

Cheers 

Bennie