97 Jeep liftgate/tail light not working

[koga]

Hi all
I am in need of some help please.
I have a 97 Grand Cherokee. Recently the console showed that my tail lights are not working. I went to check and only the right rear tail light does not work. The turn signals work and the reverse lights work. The funny thing is that the right turn signal is now using the tail light bulb and when I brake, the turn signal light comes on – this is only happening on the right side. When I turn the actually headlights on, the rear right light does not work.
The other factor is that the dome light no longer works when I open the hatch – I am guessing that it is related to the faulty rear light.
I have checked the bulbs, actually switched them with the left side to make sure they work. Also checked all the fuses and everything looks fine.
I have been trying to find some information on what to do and came across something about the liftgate being a switch for the dome light. I tried to take it apart but am not sure what I am looking for – everything is tight and secure. Don’t know where else to look from here.
Please can someone advise me as to what to look for – where the wires go etc.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You can e-mail me direct at [email protected].

Thanks in advance.

[bringselpup]

Check that you have the proper part # bulb in the socket. Someone else just posted that they had switched a bulb and put one in that fit but wasn't the right number.

Also this happened to me last year:

A double filament bulb started to fail and the filament in the bulb hung down onto the other filament. Every time I hit the brakes my running lights went dim.

[koga]

I do have the correct bulbs - I actually tried switching them witht the left tail lights to no avail. The bulbs from the right side are working on the left side so I know they are not the bulbs.
Also the dome llight no longer works when opening the liftgate. I am wondering if this is somehow connected.
Any more advice??? I am in dire straights here, it is driving me nuts.

[koga]

Ok people, don't ask because I don't know but the lights are all now working.
This is what I did:
Removed the liftgate latch, sprayed it down with WD 40 - I know oil is non conductive- but then I cleaned whatever contact I could find - there also seemed to be a type of relay switch attatched which I could not get to but I cleaned it with a very thin file. Put everything back in the car and it did not work, however, my battery at that point was dead from having the lights on during testing - so I had jump start the car the following morning - and voila, the dome lights seemed to work and I no longer had a problem with console flashing that the tail light are out - the tail lights are working too.
My thought is that all the contacts were ok to begin with and for some reason, when the battery went dead, it reset the computer - on the one hand that could be a good thing being that it fixed the problem but if the problem is more than that, then hopefully nothing will fry later on.