Help! Taillight Wiring Issue

Theres a few things I really havent gotten into that extensively with cars, wiring being one of them. Heres the deal. I was looking for a rainy day car/winter beater/something to beat on offroad, and I bought an 88 Toyota Pickup with the 2.4 liter EFI 4cyl the other day. The guy wanted 1650 and I offered 900, three days later he called me and bit. Checked everything over, except I forgot one thing. I never turned on the lights and made sure everything was kosher.. Either way, heres the situation. With the lights on, there are NO taillights, however both the directionals work, as well as the reverse lights and brake lights. I took them apart, and made sure they were getting no power, and then checked them the whole way under the truck with a voltmeter trying to figure out where the problem was. I got all the way up to the point that they go into the main engine harness, and I sure as hell dont know enough to rip that all apart, so I gave up. I was thinking of a few different things, first off do you think it could be an ECU issue? Second, wouldnt it be fairly easy to re wire them myself somehow? I figured some sort of relay would do the trick, something that if it sees power on the input it opens the circuit and powers the taillights. If not, anyone have any idea where to keep looking? I am at a loss, and really need to get this taken care of so I have transportation while my other car is being torn down and swapped..

1600 bucks ?>? i only gave 300 for my 87 with same engine and all that and i think i got ripped even

oh well

anyways i had the identical taillights problem with my 87 and it was the yellow plastic connector under the pass side rocker carpet sill plate panel, remove the phillips hjead screws and unplug the yellow wires hjarness connector and soak both ends with WD40

then plug and unplug the ends a few times

the taillights should work then if fuses and wiring are all now


good luck