Hyundai Repair: stop lamps, brake light switch, tail lamps


Question
QUESTION: both my stop lamps are not working.I have checked the bulbs, fuse and brake light switch and all are ok. The centre brake light works fine. My reversing lights are also not working and fuse and bulbs are fine,

can you help

ANSWER: The fact that the center brake lamp works verifies that the switch and fuse are okay.  Your next step in diagnosing this should be to check whether you're getting power at the brake bulb sockets when the pedal is depressed and whether you have proper ground.  Do your tail lamps and rear turn signals work properly?  If so, that's verification that the ground circuit is working.  To check for power, take a test light and clip to a good ground.  Then probe the stop lamp terminal in the socket when the brake pedal is depressed.

Use a similar approach for the reverse lamps.  You should have power at the socket terminal when the shifter is in reverse and the key is on.  If you have a manual transmission, you should suspect the reverse switch in the transmission.  If you have an automatic, the range switch is a possibility.

Since two different sets of lamps are out, I suspect there may be one problem causing both symptoms.  If you'd like, follow-up with the year and model of your car, and I'll have a look at the schematic.  Please also tell me whehter you have a manual or automatic transmission.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for your reply. The tail lamps and turn signals do work. The car is a manual Trajet, 1800cc year 2000,
thank you.  

Answer
Unfortunately, that pretty much kills any hope of giving you specific information.  The Trajet is not sold in the U.S., and I've only ever seen one in person once.

The reverse switch typically has two wires going to it and screws into the top of the transmission case.  If you've identified the switch, you can unplug it and jumper the two terminals in the connector together.  If this causes the reverse lamps to illuminate, you've just determined the problem is with the switch.