95 Geo Metro, 119,000 miles, taillights out & headlights

JAN

MEMBER
1995 ALL OTHER MAKES ALL OTHER MODELS

DH got pulled over tonight for "no taillights"; seemed odd that they'd both fail at once(neither one of us is handy unfortunately) so we checked the owners manual, suspecting a fuse. Turns out that the fuse for the taillights also operates other things, all of which work.
We've put a lot of $$ into the cars this year and would really like to solve this without seeing the dealer, if it's simple.
We've also had a problem with the headlights not casting much light--mechanic told us that the covering was getting etched from age and not allowing as much light to pass through. Is there a way to replace these ourselves, or do we see a dealer or a body shop?
Thank you!

2 Replies

MATHIASO

MECHANIC
1,209 POSTS

`The taillight circuit is powered through the taillight relay. The coil of this relay is energized when the healight switch is in the PARKINGLIGHT or HEADLIGHT position. Power thus flows through the 15-a taillight fuse to be lighting circuit. The right and left marker lights are powered directely from the fuse.
The remainder of of the taillights and the licence plate light are powered from the fuse trhough the light failure sensor.
Troubleshooting :
If none of the lights operate, either the light swicth, the relay, or the fuse has failed.
Test the fuse first, if it good, test the relay next and then the light switch and its wiring.

For the headlights not casting much light
I suppose you mean your headlights are too dim
check for a low battery voltage, a faulty battery terminal connection, or a failing relay control.
A voltage drop test accross the relay contacts should show near 0 V,
If the voltage measurement is greater than 0.3 VDC across these contacts, the contacts are failing.