Eletrical short?

[He B TeMy]

Hi, i need some help figuring out a problem.

Some time ago it started with the pedal on the breaks only, sometimes it would light up the fog light on the dashboard, but it would be a split second and gone.
Recently it happens anytime a light in the rear headlights comes on, it also flicks the tail light when it flicks the dashboard, be it braking, reversing or signaling.

I can't see any broken cable on each headlight housing connection, if i remove both rear headlights i can brake/reverse/signal and it won't flick anything on the dashboard... i thought of fuses but wouldn't that just blow and not cause a short?

Anyone got an idea before i buy a new headlight housing to test?

 

[He B TeMy]

Forgot to leave the video explaining, thanks.

 

[botfch]

Bad earth remove the boot trim and clean up.

 

[He B TeMy]

Bad earth remove the boot trim and clean up.

Is there any ground besides the 2 terminals on each side close to the lights?
I cleaned both sides (driver's side was a bit rusty) , clean all the lights the housing etc , sanded what i could and the problem still persists... i change the housing between sides and the same problem is there, although when testing sometimes it would be OK one side, then it was not okay again...

I don't see the earth cable f'ed anywhere, i didn't test with a multimeter bc i'm not used to it and the cable terminal looked fine to me.

How should i proceed ? I don't believe both housings are bad, can be the earth but i cleaned both points, it improved when testing one side, but reconnecting->connecting again came the problem.
The contacts seem firm, one side one one of them (not the ground one) seems a bit damaged, but with cleaning and some light sanding it straightened.

Is there any earth besides those two that can interfere?



You can see both top and bot lights flicking when the side lights turn on/off

 

[Brigsy]

Poor connection at the rear lights, bend the individual metal connectors in the plastic plug so they contact better.

 

[He B TeMy]

Poor connection at the rear lights, bend the individual metal connectors in the plastic plug so they contact better.

If i take out all/some lights the problem goes away for the lights i take out, i changed one of the lights and plugged it in alone the problem was there, that means the problem is in the 2 housing connections right?

 

[Brigsy]

The connections from car to cluster are the issue as i said above, clean and bend the connectors for better fit on the rear lights

 

[Louis]

Remove the plug and i bet the pins are green on the lights.

 

[He B TeMy]

Well, the pins looked good to me under daylight... Now one or two don't seem that good, but i don't think they're bad enough to cause all these problems... anyway, i'll check them again tomorrow...






https://i.imgur.com/3FrrTbf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XInwlvq.jpg

 

[Brigsy]

I can see green on the car side of the plugs. Need cleaning up and nipping up.

 

[Louis]

They're green and the pins are spread. On the connector theres that little bit of plastic above, if you prise this up slightly you can then put a smaller screwdriver down from above to close up the connectors.
Spray with electrical cleaner too, or deodorant if you dont have any cleaner (actually works).

 

[He B TeMy]

They're green and the pins are spread. On the connector theres that little bit of plastic above, if you prise this up slightly you can then put a smaller screwdriver down from above to close up the connectors.
Spray with electrical cleaner too, or deodorant if you dont have any cleaner (actually works).

I sprayed with eletrical cleaner, i even sanded the bulb holder pins, the car plug i used a screwdriver to clean them up a bit... apparently they're really dirty, i'll do it again thoroughly tomorrow.
Thanks guys.

 

[He B TeMy]

I cleaned the plug the best i could, the problem is still there, strange interaction with the fog light while being on/off in the video below:

 

[He B TeMy]

Video here:

Sorry for being a noob but i opened up the car plug and cleaned and sprayed the best i could, problem is still unchanged on either plug even if i change the housing... if i take the lamps off the problem is not there.
Plug is f'ed? Or is it the housing?

 

[Brigsy]

Need to nip/bend the terminals on the black plug as they are spread and not contacting the light properly as said above

 

[He B TeMy]

Need to nip/bend the terminals on the black plug as they are spread and not contacting the light properly as said above

Bend to the point the top pins touch the bottom pins?

 

[He B TeMy]

Hello guys, problem solved as @Brigsy said above, problem was the contacts between the pins.

Today i took the boot trim again, used a drill bit for sanding and sanded both ground terminals on each side to the metal, problem persisted the same, when taking out the driver's side ground with lights on the problem basically stayed the same, that told me it was the plug or the bulb housing.
Tried to clean the plug again with no avail, then i forced basically the top pins to the bottom pins and forced the connector in tight, boom, problem solved.

Hopefully it'll stay this way for some good time... good thing is taking the housing of the car is just one hand-screw lol.

Thanks guys again for the help , was driving me crazy this s**t.