2001 Town Car Brake/Tail Light Problems

[bigj-dog]

Hey, working on a 2001 Lincoln Town Car, has been sitting for sale for a few weeks, went to drive it home and none of the rear lights except the 3rd brake light work. With parking lights on tail lights come on VERY dimly and the 3rd brake lights up, with brake pedal pushed down, 3rd brake light gets brighter and the tail lights shut off. No blinkers either, and front parking lights and headlights work fine. I was leaning towards multifunction switch until I realized the rear suspension bags did not inflate. Does anyone know if these could related? The pump comes on, but the bags don't inflate, it shuts off after a couple of minutes. Both problems happened at the same time. I've changed many multifunction switches in GMs, with similar problems (except that the taillights usually work until you press the brake switch), but I haven't heard much about Ford products having that problem. Thanks for your time.

[Airjer_]

You have a bad ground!

[bigj-dog]

Ok, any idea where to look? I've inspected the wires from the glove box back to the lights, disconnected the air ride at it's plugin in the trunk (no change). The only grounds I found are behind the passenger side kick panel, there are 4 of them on 2 different screws, they all look perfect, removed, cleaned and reinstalled both, no change. The car is super clean, no rust, no dirt and no remnants of mice.

[Airjer_]

You could trace the ground wires from the taillights to where they attach to the car. I don't know specifically where they are. I'm sure someone who does will chime in!

[bigj-dog]

Found the ground for the taillights, 1/4 inch bolt just under the trunk latch, somehow it got broken off at the head. Absolutely no idea how, and no idea how it ended up affecting the rear air suspension, but, drilled a new hole and reconnected the ground and everything's back to normal. The rearmost panel in the trunk was the only one we never took off, had the whole trunk on the shop floor, entire back seat and all the passenger side sill plate/moldings. It was just too obvious a spot to look. Thanks for the 'remember to check the most obvious culprit' reminder Airjer. I appreciate it.

[Airjer_]

My pleasure!

Whenever there is something funky its usually a ground issue. Whenever something doesn't work its usually a power supply issue.