I am the owner of a 1988 Toyota Camry AllTrac LE, that I purchased new back in 1988.

Last night, I was pulled over by a police officer who showed me that the tail lights were not on. There are four lights in all, two mounted on the trunk lid (marked A and B on the photo below); two on the body of the car (marked C and D). None of these four lights was functioning.

A photo of the rear end of the car can be found at:

http://groups.msn.com/Hugh59sWorld/pittsburghtemps.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=162

I will try to post that photo here as well: http://groups.msn.com/Hugh59sWorld/pittsburghtemps.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=162

Here are the details of the situation:

The brake lights function
The license plate illumination lights (on the same fuse as the tail lights) function
The reverse/backup lights function
The turn signal lights function
The bulbs are all good
The fuses are all good
The "lights out" indicator on the dashboard is NOT on (is NOT indicating that a light is out).

Previously, the car had some odd problems with the tail lights. The light marked B in the photo (right side on the trunk lid) would generally not turn on when I turned on the lights. The "lights out" indicator on the dash would be ON. If I went back and knocked the prism covering the light with my hand, it would turn on...the "lights out" indicator on the dash would go OFF.

Not long ago, the tail light marked A in the photo (left side on the trunk lid) did not turn on...again, the "lights out" indicator on the dash board lit up. The first time I hit that light's prism with my hand, it came back on. But subsequently, that trick did not work. I eventually replaced the bulb and the light came back on. At the time I replaced that bulb, I found that both of the bulbs for the lights to illuminate the license plate were dead. I replaced them too. After these bulbs were all replaced, the tail lights worked fine. All four lights came on. I also found that I did not have to knock the prism for Light B to get it to come on. I think I only had to do that trick once in the last two months.

Then, last night, I was pulled over and shown that none of the tail lights were working.

I checked all the fuses. I checked all the bulbs. Anyone have any ideas?

Check for solid grounding connections.
Tapping or banging on the light area indicates an intermittent connection.
Either corrosion on the center contact in the bulb receptacle, or a grounding wire not making good contact nearby.
Just a guess.
Could be a fault in your rear indicator lamp sensor also. The dash light should come on indicating a problem, so if it does not, could be the internal circuit of the "box" under the carpet liner is bad.

My thought exactly. Though the pounding only dealt with one light that was out...not all four. I am going to have to trace that circuit all the way from the power supply to the lights. And my Chilton book does not give that kind of detail.


Check for solid grounding connections.
Tapping or banging on the light area indicates an intermittent connection.
Either corrosion on the center contact in the bulb receptacle, or a grounding wire not making good contact nearby.
Just a guess.
Could be a fault in your rear indicator lamp sensor also. The dash light should come on indicating a problem, so if it does not, could be the internal circuit of the "box" under the carpet liner is bad.

Hi hugh,
I'm working on a 88 camry le right now, also with tail/brake light problems. This car has approx. 200k km. I don't know if this will help you out at all, but one problem I found was with the wires beside the trunk hinge (for the trunk lid lights) on this car. They had become bare/broken and shorted occassionly (blowing the fuse) from what appears to be simply wear and tear from the trunk being used (a salesman owned the car previously). I had to closely inspect this area as the break was hidden under black electrical tape wrapping this wires.
good luck

Thanks. I am familiar with those wires. They are wrapped in a plastic covering and with tape. I will remove the covering and see if the wire is intact. If worse comes to worse, I will just have to rig a whole new line from the power supply to the lights.

My thought exactly. Though the pounding only dealt with one light that was out...not all four. I am going to have to trace that circuit all the way from the power supply to the lights. And my Chilton book does not give that kind of detail.

First post to this forum so thanks everyone,

Just to add to the mystery of this thread, I just bought this car a few days ago, 88 Camry 4 cyl no all trac, and from the beginning it had no brake lights. I came home and pulled the switch from the pedal assy and tested it and it worked, so I put it back in and suddenly the lights work. So I'm thinking that it was just an old switch and it just needed to be knocked/budged around a bit.

Then a whole day of driving later with no probs, the dash light comes back on again and now no brake lights.

I'll let you know what I find and hope you have some luck too.

After doing some other reading on the forum I came to this conclusion which should help with this thread. Follow link and look at my post on that page, it explains it all.



http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=80545&page=3