87 5kCSTQ Mysterious Brake Light

[Kneale Brownson]

Did you inspect the wiring at the trunk lid joint?


At 11:28 AM 07/24/2001 -0400, Paul Meyers wrote:

>So, during the year storage in the back yard, I bashed a quarter-sized hole
>in the right rear taillight assembly on the Gray 87. Chris Semple sends me a
>new taillight (thanks, Chris). I install it last night. Easy to do with deep
>8mm socket. Hardest job is reworking the sticky black goo used to keep water
>out. I go for a test drive and on comes the warning light telling me my
>brake lamp is kaput. I go around to the rear of the car, having son press
>brake pedal. Sure enough, the brake light no longer lights. I know it
>worked, since the car just passed the state safety inspection. So I figure
>the light bulb must have coincidentally burnt out. No, filament still good.
>I check all the fuses, Nope.
>
>Then I turn on the headlights. Now the mysterious behavior. The brake light
>now comes on with the taillight! Other brake lights work normally, but this
>one now only comes on with taillight and fails to work as a brake light.
>
>No connectors were removed or reattached in the lens replacement process.
>The bulb carrier just snaps out then snaps back into the new lens assembly.
>There is no electrical contact between the bulb carrier and the lens
>assembly, so it can't be a ground problem.
>
>What gives?
>
>Paul Meyers
>Gray 87 5KCSTQ 1.8bar eurolights fuchs 147 kM
>Pearl 88 5KCSTQ 1.8bar eurolights fuchs bilsteins 128 kM 2pc-em k24 turbo
>Repainted Pearl 87 5KTQA 1.8bar eurolights TT wheels bilsteins 203 kM daily
>driver
>Blue 86 5KCSTQ parts car