On my '88 S/C are my two front side markers supposed to come on with my headlights? The drivers side does, but passenger side won't. Both work with turn signal activated, but not with headlights alone. What's going on??

 

Is one of the filaments burnt out on the bulb?

 

Im actually having the same problem but with all the amber lights on my driver side. Works for turn signal but not with headlights...

 

I switched bulbs, and they both work properly on the drivers side. No filament burnt out

 

Well, the system is pretty simple. If it has a known good bulb installed then it is most likely a power or ground issue.

The body harness in the engine bay has only a few grounds. Check the grounds on the radiator core support. These will be located near the battery and the charcoal cannister. If these grounds are not connected properly strange things will happen with perfectly good equipment.

The body harness is part of the large connector coming out of the firewall below the brake booster. The body harness will come from the smaller portion of that connector, run along the driver side frame rail and to the headlight area. Then it will split into the lights/markers, with another loomed section going towards the passenger side of the car.

 

Ok I have found two ground wires on the upper radiator core support. They are on the passenger side, behind the headlights, near the battery. I connected one to the headlights to get them working properly. But there is still one more ground wire leading to nothing. Any ideas where it should go?

 

Hate to ask this, but can you post pictures? I've been looking and I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about.

 

I'll try to get pics. up as soon as possible.

 

It should also go to the body harness.

I'm speaking on a firebird here, which is a little different because of the addition of pop-up headlights, and a battery on the driver side, instead of the passenger side like on camaro.

With a firebird there are 3 grounds on the driver side near the core support. One ground should lead directly to the negative terminal on the battery. This is a very important ground.

The other 2 should connect to the body harness to ground the body harness. I would look carefully at the loom in that area, if you find any black wires not connected to something ground them out and see if the lights work correctly.

 

Here are a couple pics, not real good though. It's been raining alot here so lighting sucks! I'll get more up soon.

 

Time to break out the test light (or voltmeter) and test the brown wire on the side that doesn't light up. It's either a bad wire or a socket, ground is good, since your turn signal works.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

Thanks for the tip Lou. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I found this fuse, not sure what its for but replaced it anyway. Lost the cap so I had to tape it up : (

 

That is your fuel pump and ECM fuse, keep it clean and out of harm's way (it's usually bolted to the fenderwell by the battery).

Lou

 

So is it ok that I taped it up nice and snug? I wish I knew where the cap got off to...

Thanks for the help by the way.

 

The cap is what is bolted to the fenderwell (and the fuse holder just snaps in). Is it possible that it's still there?

Lou

 

Nope, it was hanging on by a thread and I guess I pulled it off when I went to check the fuse.

 

I don't have a schematic in front of me so don't shoot me if I have this wrong.

In the '80s, a lot of GM vehicles were wired so the side marker light would 'flash' alternately with the turn signals when the headlights were on. They accomplished this by grounding the side marker light through the turn signal bulb.

I'm not saying that Camaros and/or Firebirds are wired this way, just presenting another possibility to look at. What you can do to check it is to swap the turn signal bulbs from side to side and see if the problem changes. Check the sockets for corrosion or damage while your at it. It wont cost anything but 5 minutes of your time and you could rule out another possibility.

 

I put a test light on my turn signals today. With my headlights on and drivers side indicator lights on, I put the test light on the blue wire and it lit up and flashes with the blinker activated. Now on the passenger side my running light and blinker are not on with the headlights. I put the light on the blue wire of this blinker and it did not light up. But with the blinker activated my turn signal on passenger side works, but the test light does not come on. I cleaned both sockets with a file and still nothing. Any ideas?

 

You have a bad connection from the right front side marker to the right front marker.

It might not be obvious.

It can be a failure where the factory crimped two wire into one terminal for the socket.

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Happy Racing!