TR brake lights not working? | FerrariChat

TR brake lights not working?

Discussion in 'Boxers/TR/M' started by ago car nut, Jun 28, 2015.

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  1. ago car nut

    ago car nut F1 Veteran
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    Aug 29, 2008
    5,267
    Madison Ohio
    Full Name:
    David A.
    My 87 TR brake lights don't work? Fuse is good. I checked for switch function at the brake switch with an ohmmeter switch is OK, If I jumper the connection at the switch the lights still don't work. Reading 12VDC at the switch connection. Rear turn signals and rear running lights work.12V Power wire at the switch is blue/white. The other wire from the switch is red. Can I assume the brake light wire to the brake lights in the back is red? Any ideas where the connection to the rear is?
     
  2. turbo-joe

    turbo-joe F1 Veteran

    Apr 6, 2008
    8,934
    southwest germany and thailand
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    romano schwabel
    you checked if you have 12 V at the lights?
    may be both bulbs are not ok anymore?
    or bad connection from the bulbs to the lights?
     
  3. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 11, 2001
    25,149
    30°30'40" N 97°35'41" W (Texas)
    Full Name:
    Steve Magnusson
    I'd put my money on the white connector connection in the w or y connector being bad (in fact, I had so much trouble with the w connector red wire connection that I added a jumper wire to directly connect the red wire in the w connector to the red wire in the y connector):
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    For a first test, just try wiggling/unplugging/inspecting/reseating the w and y connectors. Unless you've gone to LED rear brake bulbs, the total current for the rear brake lights is quite high (like ~8.5A IIRC) so having those w and y white connectors "weaken" with time shouldn't be unexpected (and they are only slight less poorly designed than the fuel pump connections ;)).
     
  4. ago car nut

    ago car nut F1 Veteran
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    Aug 29, 2008
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    David A.
    Your a genius Steve! That was the problem, the connector at the fuse box. Do you recommend dielectric grease on the terminals? As before Steve, I want to thank you for the quick response to the problems on the TR.

    Dave
     
  5. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Jan 11, 2001
    25,149
    30°30'40" N 97°35'41" W (Texas)
    Full Name:
    Steve Magnusson
    #5 Steve Magnusson, Jun 28, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2015
    No (dielectric grease is for environmental protection -- it does nothing to reduce the heating which is the root cause of the trouble, and it's messy ;)). IMO, you need to do something that either improves the current carrying capability of the stock connections or bypasses them (like adding the jumper wire in parallel to the stock red wire path going thru the fuse-relay PCB -- I also did another jumper in the white terminal 50 start command path going from the white wire in the w connector to the white wire in the y connector, and consider those two modifications as required on any TR).

    The current is the same in the three connections noted in the photo, but the red wire in the w connector is just a single wire (vs multiple wires for the LN wires in the w connector and the red wires in the y connector) = the red one in the w connector suffers the most as the others (with more total metal in the wires) are better at conducting the I^2*R heat out of the contact points of the terminal.
     

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