vh rear brake light and reverse lights not working

[ovc762]

hey on my vh the rear brake light and reverse lights are not working they worked fine up until this morning i have changed the fuses bulbs and switch that the brake pedal hits but still nothing. i do have working rear tail lights and indicators still but just no brake and reverse lights. and i am not to sure but when i turn my lights on is there ment to be two tail lights that come on on each side then when you brake one gose darker cause thats what i have apart from the brake light coming on if that makes sence any ideas any helped would be great thanks .

[RippleEphex]

my guess is the connector in the rear lights is corroded or come loose, the brake light and reversing light are on the same connector. can fix by cleaning and soldering, also when you take the plastic back off to change the bulbs check the squiggly metal plate thing that takes the power from the connector to the bulb.

also check the wires that go from the brake light to the front of the car, the loom runs along the drivers side of boot, underneath the rear seat and then down underneath the black plastic strips right up to the front. might have put something in the boot that has damaged the wire? or damaged the connector? the problem is most likely at the boot of the car because its both the reversing light and the brake light and thats where they meet i think.

[ovc762]

thanks for that ill have a look also by conector could you go into more detail on were this is and what it looks like just i do not normaly work on cars motorbikes are more my thing thanks

[RippleEphex]

no probs, when you pull the plastic bit out to change the light bulbs in the rear lights, the connectors attach to that, they are not very noticeable until you have a good look.
this plastic bit that you will have just pulled out, i think will be you problem area.

i think when you pull them out they have 3 little metal prongs, check those out for damage and clean off with a light rub with some fine sand paper.

also another thing which its quite likely to be, is you ground wire from your lights, this is a little black wire that is attached to the bodywork around the lights, may not look like much but its important take the bolt out and rub back any rust or crap off the body work so you have a nice clean earth.