Tail lights

[96ssei]

Well to start the car is a 96 Bonneville SSEi. On my way home from work tonight. I noticed the lamp monitor light and tail lights light would come on randomly. Also shut off just as random. Tail lights are shutting off and coming back on as the dash light says. Has anyone experienced this problem and have any suggestion what to check. Thanks Cory

[00Beast]

Check all your rear facing bulbs, including the 3rd brake light. If any of them are out it will trigger that light in the dash.

[96ssei]

They all work fine they all will just randomly shut off while driving and turn back on. Thats the only time the dash light comes on we they shut off.

[willwren]

The third (high-mount) brake light is NOT on the taillight circuit. It's on a separate circuit of it's own with regards to the lamp monitor, and not even on the same one as the regular brake lights. (Ed, I'm not sure where you got the odd link between the tails and the brake lights, but it's a bit off-kilter to say the least, so let's try very hard to help people with accurate information, particularly first-hand knowledge).

If all the taillights are doing this at once, we need to know if the front marker lights are too. If so, it's likely a switch problem. If not, it's probably a ground problem in the rear of the car.

For the record, the Taillight circuit both for illumination AND lamp monitor functions on the DIC include several bulbs in the rear (parking light circuit) as well as the two bulbs that illuminate the rear license plate.

[00Beast]

Some reason I read that as the lights came on when he hit the brakes. My bad.

[96ssei]

Cleaned Ground wire in trunk and problem solved. Thanks for the help.