Taillight problem, ebrake light/charge light flicker.

[Ae86love]

Alright guys, so here's the issue... I've had my AE86 for about 5 months, it's a 1985 gts coupe, I just bought headlight/taillight relays hoping to fix my issue, replaced those and when I turn my running lights on, they will come on for awhile. But randomly, my lights will completely shut off and this horrible buzzing/whining sound appears in my fuse box at the kick panel but that's with both relays in. Sketchy, yes. Now, If I remove only the taillight relay, my headlights work fine and no buzzing, i've been driving without running taillights and I don't want to get pulled and ****. But For some reason, it doesn't like the taillight relay. I do not know the cause. It's really a hassle. And like I said it does it randomly, so I don't see how it could be a wiring issue. Any suggestions?? Also, the ebrake light and charge light will come on randomly and flicker especially if I dog it, I have checked grounds, Alternator seems to charge the battery fine, and everything seems good? HELP??

[Zenki85]

I have the same issue. But have the charge and brake flickering on and off is the sign of your alternator going out. And I posted a topic about the taillights. Except mine as soon as you flick the lights on the blow. But like one of the members said make sure you check the taillight harnesses make sure there's no damage and everything is fitting it wrapped up good.

[Ae86love]

I've drove the car for awhile now, and no problems with the alternator.. it seems to charge everything fine and is newer, it's not the factory alternator. It makes no damn sense to me. I heard it could be the actual switch going bad or dirty connections. I'm about to check ECU codes.

[Red]

The ECU codes on the 85 are pretty stark, there's only ten of them. When the brake+charge lights flicker, that either means you have an alternator failure. Every time the alternator crops voltage, those two turn on. There's nothing else to turn them on that way unless something is shorting out the alternator output. "Fine" is relative, if you aren't using a multimeter to test it or don't know how to test it, that's whet you need to do, get some hard numbers on it.

So first, pull the alternator (RFPITA) and have it bench tested if you ahve any doubts about how to test it in the car. Check the wiring to the alternator and make sure it is all good and clean and tight--bad wiring could cause the problem AND blow the alternator.

The tail lights could be coincidence, OR a nasty short back there might be dropping so much power that it is also faking the alternator out and turning on those fault lights. It shouldn't be able to do that without blowing a fuse, but if anyone did some creative rewiring, or stuck in a higher power fuse along the way, that all has to be checked.

I'd also pull the brake bulbs and double-check ot make sure they are 1157 bulbs and they weren't jammed in backwards. "Every" car used 1157s but these days they seem to mystify people and often they're jammed in wrong.

The buzing in the passenger side, I assume is from the kick panel down low not behind the glove box? There are some circuit breakers cleverly buried under that kick panel and the only access to them is to remove the panel. (Memo, find designer who omitted removeable cover and install removable cover in same.) Buzzing noises usually mean a relay that is making-and-breaking contact very rapidly, another sign of a bad wire connection. If the buzzing is coming from up high, to the side of the glove box, that's the circuit opening relay (COR) that also cuts off the fuel system.

[Ae86love]

Yeah that makes complete sense to me man. It's weird because All grounds seem to be good. Looks like I'll check out the harness because some stupid **** who had the car before me, had remote start and all these birds nest of wiring that I've got out of there. Remote start, like seriously? But yeah the buzzing is random, the lights worked fine with old relays for awhile. Being out at night then they stop working is pretty sketchy, I just have to remove taillight relay and everything's good like I said no buzzing. I'm going to take your advice and try and figure it out really soon. I've gotten all gaskets replaced too, headgasket, everything. Had the head shaved, and etc. But now it's burning oil really bad, probably need rings. haha. They are old cars, I love what they are capable of. Mine shall be beast one day. i'm thinking about when I get the money to rip out old wiring harness, and getting a clean swap. Sr, or 4agze.