1990 Camry Tail Lights Don't Work???

[crsjt]

BEFORE you changed the tail light relay, did you have to depress the "override" button on the shift column to shift from "PARK"?

No sorry I didn't have either of those problems

I took apart my steering column looking for the stop light switch. After about 1 hour, I still was unable to find that stupid switch.

Maybe my problem is the not the stop light switch, but the relay you are talking about.[/quote]

I don't know if that's your problem. My brake lights were working fine, it was just my tail lights that weren't working.
You should be able to remove the relay and check it out pretty easily. It's a yellow cigarette pack shaped box in the left wall of your trunk behind the carpeting. Just follow your wires. When you take it out pop off the cover and see if any circuits are burnt.
I'm really not sure if the relay works for just the tail lights or both the taillights and brake lights. It should be easy enough to check out though.

If that doesn't work you may want to try http://www.allexperts.com
They answered my question in about 12 hours and told me about the relay.
Good luck,
Chris

[spielmak]

does anyone know where to get a wiring diagram for the lamp failure box? I have the same problem as everyone else with a burnt out something in the box, but is is pretty burnt and I can't tell if it is a resistor, diode, or jsut a wire. It seems like it should be pretty easy to fix the burnout with a little soldering.

[Nascarfreak88]

its your brake pedel switch.... take apart the dash under the sterring wheel (the four screws, two located on each bottom corner, then take off the speaker cover, undo that bolt. Then the two plastic covers on each side of of the wheel have a bolt behind them). pull out that piece, and find your brake pedel up until you find that switch (its somewhere near the top). Undo that nut and unplug it and wist the whole unit out.

Hope that helps!

[superdesi]

I am writing this after finally fixing a problem that started about 2 or some months ago.

THE PROBLEM:

Since on my car you have to press the brake to shift out of Park, that was not happening. I would have to manually press the override button on the column shifter in order to shift from park.
Secondly I had no brake lights at all. During night time driving I had tail lights, but no brake lights.

THE DIAGNOSIS:

I did the obvious, bulbs & fuses, but they were all ok. Someone mentioned the tailight failure box, and I took that apart and resoldered everything, but nothing happened.

I finally took apart the lower dash and tried to find the stop light switch. According to the FSM I have, it does not show it connected to the brake pedal. So I spent an hour taking apart that blue plastic box behind the front left speaker. It was getting late so I had to reassemle everything without finding the damn switch.

Today finally I found the damn thing and had already bought a replacement 2 days ago. It was a bitch getting it out and a bitch putting the new one on and realigning it.

But, Presto!. Now I have brake lights, tail lights and I can finally shift from park without the override.

Sorry for the long post!

[Nascarfreak88]

yup, thats what i thought was wrong with mine, but my park release still worked so i ruled out that........ my problem was the light sensor box in the trunk had shorted out.

[Joe W]

superdesi-it appears that you situation is different as your brake lights are in-op.The lack of brake lights and having to depress the button to shift out of park does point to the switch.Follow the brake pedal up to locate the switch.

[superdesi]

Originally Posted by Joe W

superdesi-it appears that you situation is different as your brake lights are in-op.The lack of brake lights and having to depress the button to shift out of park does point to the switch.Follow the brake pedal up to locate the switch.

Joe, today I was able to find the switch and did the repair. All is good now. Thanks.

[decible]

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to post because I had the same problem (no tail lights, all bulbs and fuses are fine) and I wanted to share my solution.

From what the dealership told me, if you have a 1988-1991 Camry, and you look in your trunk, on the driver's side, behind the carpeting on the side wall - you will find a small yellow box about the size of a pack of cigarettes. Disconnect that box from the wire harness, and use a flathead screwdriver to carefully open the lid. You will most likely see an obvious area that is black and chared a little left of the center marked with a printed number on the circuit board, like 1 or 2. There's the culprit!

You can either pay Toyta some un-Godly ammount of money to replace this POS part from the 80's, you can try to hunt one down in a junkyard for $5-$30 plus gas and time depending on where you find it, or you can make the repair yourself. Luckily the fix is easy as pie. . .

Firstly, if you are looking dead on at the wire harness plug the diagram goes something like this according to something I found on the internet:
---------------------------------------------------
: 01 03 05 07 09 11
: 02 04 06 08 10 12

: Pin 1 (Green) to Tail lamp Fuse ..voltage w/lights on
: Pin 2 (Lite Green) to Tail Lamps ..
: Pin 3 12v
: Pin 9 to Brake Pedal .. voltage when depressed
: Pins 11 & 12 to Brake Lights

: Short/Splice 1 & 2 for Tail lights on when lights are turned on.

: Short/Splice 9, 11, & 12 together for brake lights.

: Other pins are used for the lamp on the dash and power for the sensor.
---------------------------------------------------
*note: I, personally, don't have a Pins 09 or 11 on mine, so I came up with a slightly different solution. Read on.

OK! so all I did was remove the yellow box from the wire harness, and then I took a conductive sliver of thin metal and used it to bridge Pins 01 and 02; the two green ones that account for my tail lights.

Now, low and behold I had tail lights again! Only problem was that, in my case, I no longer had break lights. Ack! That won't do, so what I did next was simply insure that the bridge I made for the green (tail light) wires was short and non-intrusive. Then I opened up the yellow sensor box I removed ealier, got some needle-nose pliers and removed (twisted until they came out) the pins from the circuit board connector where it would have plugged in to the tail light pins, since I already have my metal bridge there on the harness. Once that is done I can reconnect the sensor box to the harness. You should now have tail and break lights. The only thing you won't have from now on is an indicator letting you know if a tail light blub goes out since you have essentially bypassed the sensor for your tail lights. Personally that doesn't bother me though. It's a free fix and it's really easy. I hope this helps someone

- Dustin

[Nascarfreak88]

i just soldered a thin line of solder to fix the short in the yellow box. it was a free fix too

[nebuchadnezzar]

Just want to thank everyone on this forum for saving me today!

I have a 1991 Toyota Camry with similar symptoms:
1. no brake lights
2. dashboard warning light is on (the rear light symbol)

I tried replacing the bulbs and the stop light switch above the brake pedal.
Both of these did not fix it.

(Note: the stop light switch is hard to reach if you're ~6 ft tall, I could only work with one hand in the area while the rest of me was in some sort of gymnast pose, so read on before you try replacing it.)

Then I read this forum. I found out that the little yellow box (the light failure monitor) buried under the left wall carpet in the trunk existed. I pulled it out and opened it up. There was a clear browning of one of the connections on the circuit board. As suggested on this forum, I soldered a thin piece of solder over the broken connection. PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

The total cost was $11 for the replacement stop light switch; I wouldn't even need it if I didn't break the old one before taking it out! lol

N.

[Nascarfreak88]

[Arand0n]

A puzzle I need help with....

1994 Camry - Recently the lamp failure indicator light came on in my dash, indicating I need to replace a rear brake bulb(s). It comes on after starting the car and turning the headlight switch to either 1st or 2nd setting, and stays on until the headlight switch is turned off.

I have replaced ALL the rear bulbs (just to be very clear, every single bulb in the rear of my vehicle is new), and I have verified that each light is working. There is NO light out in the rear (and none out anywhere else in/on the car for that matter)

I have replaced the lamp failure sensor(auto wrecker), checked all fuses, and removed and cleaned the ground wire near the trunk latch.
Inspection of the lamp failure sensors shows them to be identical with no burn marks. Both have a slight browning on the circuit board in the exact same area, but it is very minor and there is continuity between all traces.

The dash light still comes on.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[a4gb1]

Originally Posted by AMONTGOMERY1978

I have the same problem. No tail lights, but have brake lights, backup lights, headlights, etc. I know there is a fuse box in the trunk for the tail lights (thanks Haynes manual) but I can't find it. Any suggestions? I think the fuse is blown, but ANY suggestions will be helpful now. I would prefer not to be pulled over by helpful fellow drivers or our faithful boys in blue to cheerfully inform me that these are out...

Thanks

I have an 89 Camry with similar problems. The problem was resolved by changing the lamp malfunction board in the trunk. On the drivers side rear, pull away the felt carpeting. The board is yellow colored and to find it trace it by following the harness. I bought one from a junkyard for $30.

[a4gb1]

Originally Posted by decible

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to post because I had the same problem (no tail lights, all bulbs and fuses are fine) and I wanted to share my solution.

From what the dealership told me, if you have a 1988-1991 Camry, and you look in your trunk, on the driver's side, behind the carpeting on the side wall - you will find a small yellow box about the size of a pack of cigarettes. Disconnect that box from the wire harness, and use a flathead screwdriver to carefully open the lid. You will most likely see an obvious area that is black and chared a little left of the center marked with a printed number on the circuit board, like 1 or 2. There's the culprit!

You can either pay Toyta some un-Godly ammount of money to replace this POS part from the 80's, you can try to hunt one down in a junkyard for $5-$30 plus gas and time depending on where you find it, or you can make the repair yourself. Luckily the fix is easy as pie. . .

Firstly, if you are looking dead on at the wire harness plug the diagram goes something like this according to something I found on the internet:
---------------------------------------------------
: 01 03 05 07 09 11
: 02 04 06 08 10 12

: Pin 1 (Green) to Tail lamp Fuse ..voltage w/lights on
: Pin 2 (Lite Green) to Tail Lamps ..
: Pin 3 12v
: Pin 9 to Brake Pedal .. voltage when depressed
: Pins 11 & 12 to Brake Lights

: Short/Splice 1 & 2 for Tail lights on when lights are turned on.

: Short/Splice 9, 11, & 12 together for brake lights.

: Other pins are used for the lamp on the dash and power for the sensor.
---------------------------------------------------
*note: I, personally, don't have a Pins 09 or 11 on mine, so I came up with a slightly different solution. Read on.

OK! so all I did was remove the yellow box from the wire harness, and then I took a conductive sliver of thin metal and used it to bridge Pins 01 and 02; the two green ones that account for my tail lights.

Now, low and behold I had tail lights again! Only problem was that, in my case, I no longer had break lights. Ack! That won't do, so what I did next was simply insure that the bridge I made for the green (tail light) wires was short and non-intrusive. Then I opened up the yellow sensor box I removed ealier, got some needle-nose pliers and removed (twisted until they came out) the pins from the circuit board connector where it would have plugged in to the tail light pins, since I already have my metal bridge there on the harness. Once that is done I can reconnect the sensor box to the harness. You should now have tail and break lights. The only thing you won't have from now on is an indicator letting you know if a tail light blub goes out since you have essentially bypassed the sensor for your tail lights. Personally that doesn't bother me though. It's a free fix and it's really easy. I hope this helps someone

- Dustin

I have the same problem. 89 Camry already replaced 1 lamp malfunction board in trunk. My new symptoms are all tail lights work fine but I have no brake lights. In daytime travel no lights work when brake is depressed. At night all lights light up so it looks as if brake is always on. I read the post but got lost when you started to short out the pins. why did you short out pins then reconnect the lamp PCB?

[edow]

Originally Posted by crsjt

OK...it seems the shop was trying to screw me!! it was not in fact my headlight switch and all the jiggling in the world never got the tail lights on. It was in fact my tail light relay!! It took about 2 seconds to change out and cost me $25 used!! If anyone has this problem where all lights work except tail lights I highly recommend checking this out. I almost paid a ton of money for something that wouldn't have fixed the problem
The relay is on the left side wall of the trunk behind the carpeting. It is a yellow box a little bigger than a pack of cigerettes. All you do is get it unhooked from the body and remove one plug. You can open the relay and see if any circuits are burnt out. It was obviously burnt on mine.
Don't get screwed by some shady mechanic!! Check this out first!! It is so easy my grand ma could do it!!
Cheers,
Chris

i have the same problem with u, and i already found the yellow box, my question is how u unhocked the box ? in my camry it's very difficult to unhock it ? thx ...


edow