John :
That's a classic bad ground. The left side bulb is not grounded for some
reason. Might be the bulb not making good contact in the socket, or the
socket isn't grounded to the car body for some reason.
What's happening is that with the brake lights off, the current is flowing
through the left tail filament, then through the left brake filament (since
the ground isn't working) and then through the right brake filament to
ground. Since the brake filaments are much lower resistance than the tail
filament, only the tail filament lights.
But, with the brake lights on, the path to ground through the right brake
filament no longer exists, and the left side goes completely dark.
Randall
- just came in from chasing a short in the Stag. Current score : Prince of
Darkness 1, home team 0
>
> The other night as I was heading out for a drive I asked my wife
> to check my
> tail lights. They were "seeable" with headlights on but when I put on the
> brakes the left side went dark. This is far too complicated for me, any
> ideas?
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