Tail light working. Brake Light not.

[yippee]

Hello all. I have a quick question for you. I haven't really dug into it much yet, so it may be a simple solution.

On the drivers side, the tail light is working but the brake light is not. Originally I thought it might have been a bulb, so I put a new bulb in it since I already had them. That didn't fix it, so I put another socket in it (it was not new, it was pulled out of another Liberty). It started working for a little while after that. One night I was driving it and realized the brake light was not lighting up again.

I'm assuming it has to be something beyond the socket? Maybe a wire loose, contact on the light itself, or do the lights have some sort of circuit board or something that controls the bulbs?

As said, I haven't had a chance to pull it apart and look at it yet, so I'm not too sure what all is going on back there. Hopefully it'll be something fairly easy.

 

[Royy]

I had the same issue last year. Replaced the bulb, replaced the socket, even replaced the entire tail light assembly. None of it worked.

Eventually I just tried switching some sockets around, and somehow that moved the issue to the reverse light :emotions34:. The brake and tail lights now work fine, but now I can't get that one reverse light to work, no matter what parts I replace.

 

[Billwill]

The rear bulb sockets of the KJ are known to create all sorts of problems...the heat of the lamps cause the contacts to melt back into the plastic.

You need to check the contacts are good and clean and are protruding.

Strap a pin or needle onto the red lead of a Multimeter and use this to piece the insulation of the bulbs at the socket....with the brake pedal jammed down you should see +12 volts on the pieced wire with respect to chassis.

You can close up the damaged insulation with a dab of glue.
I will get back to you with the wire color that should have this voltage on it.

OK the left brake lamp +12 volts should be a White/Tan wire....but I could be wrong as there are a lot of errors on this page!