Brake light failure...
 

So, for a while now I've noticed that when I'm parallel parking at night, I can't see jack behind me. I had a friend comfirm for me that my tail lights don't get any brighter when I press the brake, and the brake light on the trunk doesn't light up at all. The side white lights don't light up either.

I did some searching on google, and it appears this is a common problem with MK3's, and it usually has to do with the yellow lamp failure box. I took it out and gave it a look, and all the solders look fine, no problems at all.

The next thing to do is check all the fuses (maybe that should have been the first thing...) but I'd like to add that when it rains, the inside of my tail lights collect a lot of moisture and condensation. Could this have shorted them out? If that's the case, I might just replace them, and seal them up real nicely with some caulk.

dont use caulk, just replace the gaskets

I second that!! At $20 a piece it is a worth wile investment, I have still to invest in this, at the moment I occasionally spray WD-40 over all the lights, wires, connection, failure box, and anything else in there to steb the flow of water. You can get the gaskets at horsepowerfreaks.com.

Good luck.

I found them, and I'll pick a couple up. Although, when I was poking around back there, it looks like condensation gets in there the easiest from the inside of the car. It's just a plastic piece that separates the inside of my car, and the light array itself...my car gets condensation pretty easily inside because of the targa roof, and my rear hatch probably doesn't seal correctly.
Actually, now that I think about it, I should probably fix the water that gets in the back every time it rains...I recently got my rear hatch window completely replaced because of a break-in, and I wonder if they didn't seal it up that well...
This won't explain why the brake light on my spoiler no longer works, though.

Toyota Supra MK3 Weather Strippings

I'm assuming thats for one? and how exactly does it connect to the taillight anyways?

i think he is talking about the black trim piece thats about a 1/4" wide that goes around the tailight.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...49tailight.jpg


am i correct?

sounds like you need to replace all of you weather stripping also

So, the Tailight Gasket on horsepower freaks in not the quarter inch trim around the light?

nope. that black trim is plastic. the gasket goes inbetween that trim and the body of the car

Rear Combination Lamp

the gasket you want is:
81554 -- 81554-14580 -- $15
81564 -- 81554-14580 -- $15

*click on the number you want and it will take you to the page where it tells you the part number and price

Didn't know gaskets were supposed to go there lol.

Thanks for the links there : D

I'm guessing I need to replace the bulbs, but maybe the wiring is shoddy, because the spoiler brake light doesn't work either.

you might have to replace your tailight failure box. its right in front of your drivers tailight behind the panel. its about 2" x 2" x 1". i think yours is yellow because its an N/A. mine was but then i put the spoiler on and had to change to the white one so that it would send the correct voltage to the spoiler to light up the led. yours maybe be white though b/c you have more options on yours than i have

Really? I already pulled it and opened it up and everything looked fine. It's yellow. My dash doesn't even show that some of my tail lights are messed up (even though that's what the box is supposed to do). Maybe it just crapped out, even though I can't see any burn marks or shoddy soldering.

I may be wrong, but didn't the spoiler only come on Turbo models? My 87 N/A has almost all of the options and it never had a spoiler...

I have a third brake light in the window, so maybe whoever put the spoiler on there (if it's not a stock piece on any N/A's) didn't switch out the box. Also, the Yellow box I believe is for the pre-89 supras and white is for the post-89 models. If you have a 3-piece spoiler than you should have the white box (if what I stated is true; someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, if you have the 89+ lights (with the red piece in the middle) you would also need the white box.

Well, it's a spoiler like this one:
http://www.mytoyotasupramk3.com/images/mk3.jpg
I don't know if that qualifies as a spoiler (for lack of a better word) or not. As far as I know, my car is completely stock, except for replacement parts that have failed.

Okay, that is the pre-89 spoiler, so your Yellow Box should be the correct one. Well, I was hoping I could help you out with this but that's pretty much all I can think of...

You might want to use a Volt Meter and check for Voltage fluctuations out of the sending unit when someone presses on the brake. I don't know what the power is supposed to be, but if it's working there should be a change.

mines a 91 N/A and i had the yellow box. the way i understood it was that all N/A's had the yellow box and turbo's had the white box. could be wrong. its possible that whomever bought the supra new ordered an N/A with a spoiler...just a thought

I had a problem with all the electronics in the back going berserk about a month ago. Did you check your ground screws? That was my problem and all I did was tighten them.