I screwed up!
 

:mad::confused: I don't know what I did wrong, and desperately need a quick answer to this problem. Installed JDM tails this evening (No brand name evident, bought them used) I don't have brake lights! The parking lights function, the turn signals work, the reverse lights work, but no brakes at all not even the third brake light. What did I do wrong? I have an extra plug small, two pins, grey and there is nowhere to put it in the new tails. What did I miss? Please help my pathetic ass:o

JDM tails you had to extend some wires, yes? (well atleast I did)


maybe its not connected well enough :confused:

Yes I extended the wires, two on the drivers side and four on the passenger side. I feel like I'm not doing something obvious. What is supposed to happen with the fourth plug that comes out of the USDM tails? The one with the little 7443 bulbs?

thats just a light that goes on when you turn on your head lights... no function other than that of lighting... i guess you could say.

I just left it chillin... lol

JDM tail lights only require extension for the turn signal bulbs if I remember correctly since it is relocating from the center of the light to the top. The brake light itself should be a harness that you unclip from the stock tail lights and it should plug into the new ones.

Gotcha, its probably the quality of my extensions then. I used push in connectors to make the extensions cause they are quick and easy:o I've talked to the guy I bought the tails from and he was very helpful also. So It looks like i just gotta re-do my half-ass wiring job and I'm in business:cool: I was soooooo worried I had really messed something up! Thanks to all who replied:D

Same thing happened to me. Connections were good but I crossed a wire at some point and it threw the whole thing off for the brake lights. At one point nothing worked, then when I turned the headlights on, they were brake active bright, and there was no in between. Went back, checked the connections but not the colors of the wires, and couldn't figure it out. A day later I went back and checked that I had matched all my wires properly with the extensions (My tails were used too, but the guy before me didn't tell me he cut the harness from the tails off - bum - so I had a little more wiring to do then usual) And found I had swapped a ground and power. Also blew a couple fuses in the process of putting it all together, so it wouldn't hurt to check your fuses in the dash and under the hood. I don't remember their placement #'s, but it's easy to find with the diagram. Good luck.

Whooo, I just felt a shiver like the ghost of FitFreak has returned :p

yeah it might be the wiring job. But did you have to extend that many wires? I heard its only the reverse light wire? I got my JDM tails on monday so hopefully my install goes well this weekend =]]]

You need to get a volt-ohm-meter from radioshack et al for $15 to $30 and check your voltages. Disxconnect the brake lights. You need the vom for other things anyway.
First, check to see if your wires from the brakes are getting voltage when you apply the brakes. if the wires show voltage (12vdc) then your taillights are the problem. Check the brake lights for continuity, that is using the ohm meter you should read a low resistance from the wires to ground. (make sure you have a ground, that is a path from the light back to the chassis. No path from the wires back to the chassis, no lights) If you got no ohms then the 'bulbs' burnt out.You may want to check that first; it could be why they were used sales
The ground should read zero ohms from the negative post of the battery to your ground connection.
Good luck.
.

could it be a wire is caught on something and grounded itself? happened on my gsr when i put oem tails on it

:rotfl::rotfl:Lmao, took the words right out of my mouth!!

OK heres the update. Still no brake lights, everything else functions as it should. All the connections are good (I re-did them this morning without the push in connectors) Everything is connected properly and tight. No blown fuses, the third brake light bulb is intact (not blown) I just can't get the brake lights to function! When I step on the brake pedal I get nothing from the tails. Mahout, should I run an independant ground directly from the tail-light to the chassis? would that do anything for me? I was under the impression that the grounding was part of the OE harness, maybe I was wrong or these tails are particulalrly sensitive. Keep the ideas comin guys, I'm still in trouble here....

when i installed another members lights

i had the same problem, if they are real JDM the LED are unpluged from the actual harness
u have to open up the back plate and connect them, a simple 2 second thing

if they are generic no name then i have no idea?
did u check your fuses?

If you know voltage is applied to the TL then running a separate ground from the TL to the chassis is a next good trial. Be sure you know where the ground wire is from the LED TL. If it depends on bolting to the body and you're bolted to plastic then run it from there.
There may be a ground wire connection in the harness. After you see if it really is, again by resistance being zero, according to the VOM, make sure you have connected the ground side of the LED TL to it.
If that doesn't solve it you need to verify that the LED's aren't 'burnt out' or not 'plugged-in' as one poster said, again by resistance which should be fairly low but not zero, which indicates the LEDs are shot or not plugged-in or have some other current flow limitation.

This seems like a lot of work for tail lights that out to be mostly plug and play with minor extension of wires.
If the further testing/checking doesn't work out, I'd start thinking you got burned by the previous owner. If these aren't Honda OEM JDM tails, then they're either DEPO or N1 concepts - if I remember correctly N1 is the better of the two knockoffs, and are more easily branded - DEPOs don't have any sort of label or branding, and they are hit or miss with quality (I'm running DEPOs, no problems with the lighting, but their fitment could be a lot better, as I had to cut and trim them and they still don't line up as well as I'd like)

Good luck and keep us posted.

I don't think i got burned by the previous owner, he has stayed in contact with me throughout ;)(Thank God) I'll try the independant ground again after I lay my hands on a volt meter (this evening) The one I tried without knowing which wire was which didn't do anything. I'm wondering if its possible that I fried the brake light switch somehow? That would certainly explain why only the brake lights don't function, especially the third brake light which should in theory have nothing to do with the new tails. That or I have an open somewhere that I'll have to track down and fix. Sevenaprils, you are absolutely correct, it is an awful lot of trouble for such a "simple" job! But this is how my life has been going this month, everything i touch turns to shit:( I look at it this way, after this fiasco the spring install should be a breeze:rolleyes:

Eureka! One bad splice and one 15amp fuse later I have working brake lights! One of my half ass splices was grounding out on the sheetmetal under the hatch and had blown the fuse. All fixed and working nicely now. A big thank you and rep to all who helped me out!

Nice! Glad to hear you got it going. +rep for overcoming tail light drama (seems common on the forums!)

i got mine installed last night and i extended 3 sets of wires and everything worked out great. I've never soldered before, but about half an hour of youtube videos teaching how to solder and $30 at radioshack, everything worked out fine. LOL. good to hear that everything worked out for you pumpkin =]