Rear light problem

[Pulse]

I've got a 99 (T) 1.3 GX, I presume this is a K11!

Anyway, for some reason, when the brake is pressed in the car, the side lights come on at the same time!

So, I've had a look at it. I've narrowed it down to the left hand side bulb holder (i.e. the bit which holds the 3 bulbs).
I did this by:

Made sure it was not the bulb I had put in at the top (brake light), by putting a different bulb in, and it still did the same.

I then took the bulb out, and the lights did not come on.

I then tried swapping the bulb holders around, and it happened again, due to the bulb being in the top. Took the bulb out, and all was fine again.

So, to make sure it was not the left hand side wires having a problem, I left out the left hand side bulb holder completely, and just put the right hand side bulb holder in the left hand side, and it was fine, no problems...


So, I guess my questions are:

1. Does this seem to point to the left hand side bulb holder being faulty? Or could it still be something else? I seem to have tested everything I can to narrow it down.

2. Where can I buy one of these bulb holders from? Obviously cheapest would be best, so anyone perhaps breaking their Micra, or something like that would be good, or eBay or something (the reason I haven't looked on eBay is I don't know what term to search for!)... Or does anyone know somewhere in Swindon that'll be any good to source this part (apart from Nissan obviously - although, if the part is cheap enough from Nissan anyway, I'll just get it there... Anyone know the part number and/or price perhaps, and I can then contact them?)


Sorry for such a long post... Hopefully it's something someone on here has come across before!

 

[butta]

two words BAD EARTH used to happen all the time on my old fords find the black earth cable off the battery trace it to the car body undo the bolt give it a good clean with a wire brush and sand paper to remove any rust do the same to the bolt and the connector on the wire and re-fit should sort the problem

 

[Pulse]

Ok, can anyone give me a guide (perhaps with photos) of where I can find the earth etc etc? Not sure on this! And I have to disconnect the battery first, right? What should I make sure I do first/along the way?

Would it definitely not be a faulty bulb holder then, from what I've explained? Since I plugged in the other bulb holder, and all worked fine?

 

[mean micra]

Would it definitely not be a faulty bulb holder then, from what I've explained? Since I plugged in the other bulb holder, and all worked fine?

Mate i had exactly the same fault on my old micra took me ages to find out it was the bulb holder... i opened it up and just re-wired it i had a loose earth wire which was touching the indicator wire which when i would Brake the indicators would blow a fuse.

have a look inside the bulb holder it just splits in half and has an earth bar running throuh it...

make sure you do the BAD EARTH fix though as it may solve a numbe of potential faults, bad earths are always a problem...

 

[Pulse]

Ah ok, so there's also an earth wire inside the bulb holder? Can you advise me as to how to open it, and what wires to be looking out for etc? I'd be grateful!

Also, I will check out the Earthing on the car itself, if someone can give me some pointers to checking it. Although if it's having no issues at present, I can perhaps leave the main earthing of the car for a while... Just need to get the earting of the bulb holder itself sorted first I guess, as the car isn't being driven at the moment, just in case.

Alternatively, how much to buy a bulb holder brand new?

 

[Fordy]

i'd say check continuity between the black wire on the holder and a good earthing point in the car with a multimeter, if you have continuity and no resistance then the wiring is fine, which probably means you have a bad connection on the earth wire pin either in the harness connector or the bulb holder

 

[Pulse]

Wow, that went completely over my head, lol. Haven't got a multimeter either unfortunately!

Any ideas on how to open the bulb holder? Want to take a look at it later if possible.

 

[chrissy]

had a similar issue on my k11 turned out it was because i had put a single filiment tail light in instead of a proper dial filiment one swapped it round seemed to sort it

 

[Pulse]

Cheers! I've probably done something daft like that, without checking. I'll take a look when I get home. Thank you.