Hi Guys,

I noticed tonight that my left (drivers side) tail light doesn't seem to be working (running light works fine). When I depress the brake pedal, the right (passenger side) lights up but not the left. About a month ago I replaced the same bulb when I noticed my brake lights were out (running lights still worked though). I inspected the bulb before I replaced it last time and it had burned out. I haven't looked at the bulb tonight but I suspect its the same thing.

I performed a search and read that "if the sidelight goes out when you depress the brake pedal, you have a bad ground."

Where are the ground points for the tail lights? Inside the housing? Also, does anyone have experience with this? Thanks.

 

Remove the whole light assembly and check for water ingress and corrosion.
It is a common problem for that taillight to leak and fill with water and corrode the circuit board.

 

Thanks for the help spike. I looked at the light this weekend and didnt find anything out of the ordinary. The bulb had not blown and everything seemed okay. On another note, I mentioned in another post that my rear hatch will not unlock. I have narrowed that down to the actuator rather than a lubrication issue. Could these two issues be connected somehow (dim brake light and door actuator)? I poked around the truck looking for ground points and didn't find any. Could a short in the actuator case this? Any ideas before I order a new actuator for the rear hatch?