I replaced it with a new same bulb but it's still out. Also the plastic housing for the bulb is loose. Any thoughts?

Thanks very much.

 

from memory I think these are festoon type bulbs, ie they have pointed metal ends. I have found before that if you just rotate the bulb slightly in its holder it can make the difference between it working or not working. You described the bulb holder as loose, but I don't know if you mean it's loose from the car, or the bulb is fitting loosely. If the bulb is loose you can GENTLY squeeze the two metal tabs that are the bulb holders together to make the gap smaller and make the bulb fit tighter. Wiring wise both lights are supplied from the same power source and ground, so the problem must be local to the bulb or the holder.

 

Chack for 12v across the two terminals with the lamps switched on. If you don't have it, the faukt is probably with the feed or ground wire in the harness at the right boot lid hinge. Common fault.

 

There's 0 Volts across those 2 terminals while the other one light is on. The question now is how do I trace that wire? Is that wire bundled up with the other wires that run down the hinge of the trunk?

Thanks!

 

Yes, there is only 1 loom running off the trunk lid ito the car, it runs down the right hand hinge (standing behind the car looking forward) I had a different issue (no trunk lights) and it was because of a cracked wire in this loom. You need to remove the loom insulation at the point where the loom comes out of the plastic hinge cover to inspect the wires.

 

Thanks, that will be my next project.

 

No problem.

 

I saw there's a separate set of wires that goes to that light socket (as opposed to being connected in serial with the other lamp)
So I was thinking instead of having to remove more things trying to trace those wires how about I just tap 2 wires from the working light wires to the bad socket to make a serial connection?

 

That would work, but it is almost 100% certain you have some kind of issue already with your boot loom running down the hinge. If you don't address it, it will get worse and other things will start to fail. There are a lot of threads on here which start off with "I have this very strange behaviour that I can't understand, ie security system not working, car alarm won't arm, I can't get into the trunk, my trunk lights don't work", and all have the same root cause..... a short or break in the boot loom. It's an easy 1 hour job..... best to do it now (and not run into the one of the other problems in the middle of nowhere, etc)

 

That makes sense. However I'm just trying to take a short cut now since I'm still trying to get the car state inspected but just because of that light being out it wouldn't pass inspections. I guess tomorrow morning I'll just take the short cut just so it can pass the inspection and then when I have more time on the weekend I can check out the boot loom.

Thanks

 

serial connection?
If that is what you really mean, the two lamps will glow with 1/4 brilliance. (power = V*A, amps is half, volts is half) If that gets you through the night, then its alright, alright.