Tail Light Woes

[XeGnome]

   All help appreciated!
Here is our situation with Pixie:

With the light switch "on" the brake lights do not illuminate when pressed
With the light switch "off" the brake lights illuminate

With the lights on there are no tail running lights but the corner lamps are on
With the key off and the turn signal turn switch pulled down or up only the opposite brake light illuminates.
With the key on and the turn signal on, the brake lights do not illuminate (in fact the other lamp seems to dim flash in opposite)

oh... and we have no dash lights with the lights on...
Horn works

[A.Gramz]

New or old wiring harnesses?

[XeGnome]

Old and "repaired"...  Rev put in a new turn signal switch with the Grant wheel.

[1 Wild R/T]

99% guaranteed it's a ground problem.. Temporarily run a wire from the tail light housing back to clean bare metal on the body....

New paint acts like insulation, originally there was virtually no paint applied in the trunk area where the tail light housings bolted up.. New fresh paint rarely gets applied that thin & instead of a ground path you get insulation...

[XeGnome]

99% guaranteed it's a ground problem..

Yes! ; one more electrical gremlin traced out.  ✔
Thank you

  The light "Sockets" needed to be grounded.  Brakes, turn signals and reverse lights.
I noticed the gear select light works in the column so I am betting the dash lights need a good ground too...

[RUNCHARGER]

Yup.

[Cuda Cody]

   Ground.  It's almost always a ground issue with newly painted cars.

[Claudia]

I have actually read about several different people having this same issue with their taillights.  Apparently the e-bodies were lacking in this area even from the factory.  I am just now starting to install all of my wiring so . . . I went ahead and added a ground wire for the taillights just in case.

[1 Wild R/T]

Apparently the e-bodies were lacking in this area even from the factory. 

News to me & I've been playing with them a long time.... Fresh paint causes problems on Fords & Chevys too....

[61K T/A]

My car had a respray before I bought it. The left rear tail light would be dim at best and the rev light would also come on when i applied the brakes. Thinking it was a wire harness problem I checked it out and worked fine. I then ran a ground and all worked. For now it is a quick fix. When I have the time i'll remove the assy and check the body contacts.

[Claudia]

Apparently the e-bodies were lacking in this area even from the factory. 

News to me & I've been playing with them a long time.... Fresh paint causes problems on Fords & Chevys too....

Yes, I agree . . . paint causes grounding problems on any vehicle. I just meant that it must have been an issue from the factory as the taillight ground wire came on the vehicles from the factory (at least I think it did). Maybe someone on here can confirm?

[1 Wild R/T]

Apparently the e-bodies were lacking in this area even from the factory. 

News to me & I've been playing with them a long time.... Fresh paint causes problems on Fords & Chevys too....

Yes, I agree . . . paint causes grounding problems on any vehicle. I just meant that it must have been an issue from the factory as the taillight ground wire came on the vehicles from the factory (at least I think it did). Maybe someone on here can confirm?

If it came with a ground wire the lights would work, since the lights don't work you might sddume there is no ground wire.... And if you made that assumption you'd be correct...  VE's have ground wires... American cars from the 60 & 70's do not....

[Claudia]

Apparently the e-bodies were lacking in this area even from the factory. 

News to me & I've been playing with them a long time.... Fresh paint causes problems on Fords & Chevys too....

Yes, I agree . . . paint causes grounding problems on any vehicle. I just meant that it must have been an issue from the factory as the taillight ground wire came on the vehicles from the factory (at least I think it did). Maybe someone on here can confirm?

If it came with a ground wire the lights would work, since the lights don't work you might sddume there is no ground wire.... And if you made that assumption you'd be correct...  VE's have ground wires... American cars from the 60 & 70's do not....

1970 Cuda assembly drawing?

[1 Wild R/T]

Apparently the e-bodies were lacking in this area even from the factory. 

News to me & I've been playing with them a long time.... Fresh paint causes problems on Fords & Chevys too....

Yes, I agree . . . paint causes grounding problems on any vehicle. I just meant that it must have been an issue from the factory as the taillight ground wire came on the vehicles from the factory (at least I think it did). Maybe someone on here can confirm?

If it came with a ground wire the lights would work, since the lights don't work you might sddume there is no ground wire.... And if you made that assumption you'd be correct...  VE's have ground wires... American cars from the 60 & 70's do not....

1970 Cuda assembly drawing?

Assembly drawings don't always represent what really was built.... Let's see how many cars actually have that wire...  Alan?

[HEMICUDA]

Even if all the lights are working properly, the lights still might need a "better" ground.  I always take a wire and ground it to the chassis and touch every socket individually to see if the light gets brighter.  You can have a so so ground and the bulb still work, just not as bright as it would with a good ground.

Randy is correct, 99% of typical wiring issues stem from a bad or no ground.  I learned years ago, when I assemble a car, I'm very careful to make sure the dash frame, gauge cluster, front valance has a good ground.  From there you're checking bulb sockets for grounds.