So I know there will be many "SEARCH!" cries, and believe me, I am still trying to narrow down more info. But in the interest of maybe someone might have another thought to point me to, here's what happened today, after rinsing some mud off the car. And just a regular rinsing off, it wasn't like I was shoving water into any places it's never been before.

Out of nowhere, when I hit the brakes, I get a Check Rear Light warning. Ok, so I figured that the brake bulb went toast. So I park the car, and walk to the back. However, the parking light on the passenger side (pretty sure that's the one), is constantly lit, even with the car off now. The only way to kill it, is to unplug it from the back of the panel. The panel looks fine, the bulb was replaced with no change. I took the panel off the driver's side, and plugged that in with the car off, and it lit a bulb also. So it appears somehow, that I have power feeding through, even with the car off. I should mention, the rest all works. I still have brake lights, turn signals, and full parking lights with the lights on. All the lights work as normal, BUT the passenger side rear parking light will not go out once turned off.

So to me, it seems it must be an issue somewhere along the wiring, not the bulb, connectors, or panel. I don't have my meter handy, but to be honest, I'm not 100% where I'm even tracing backwards, much less why it would be lit with the car off. I'm about to go out and unhook the battery and do a reset just on a whim, but in the meantime, anyone have any thoughts?

EDIT: I did notice that the side marker light did look like it had condensation in it, so thinking that maybe it was somehow related, I did pull the bulb out. Slight rust on one prong of the bulb contacts, bulb still good, and removing that bulb made no change, even though it's not that bulb that lights up, it's the one in the back panel.

 

The RW wire supplies power to the right tail lamp from the body processor through several connectors. (see figure 09.2)

Note: S2001XJ8.pdf is the Electrical Guide for all 2001-2003 Sedans.
When we were issued paper guides we just got new cover pages that had the new year model range printed, not a new guide if there were no changes from the previous year.

bob

 

Without looking at a wiring diagram, I'm suspecting the security locking module (SLM).

Ok, Bob investigated it and so it seems I was wrong. He posted 1 minute before I did.

 

Thanks for the guide, Bob. Looks like I've got some reading to do. At least it isn't raining today!

 

I know what you mean about the SLCM and BPM. I can never remember what does what until I look at the Electrical Guide. Too many cars in my head.

bob

 

But SLCM, right?

 

The SLCM powers the BRAKE lights.

bob

 

Well, now that you mention it... I feel like an idiot. I went out this morning, and sure as sun, it's the brake light that's on. I don't know if I mentioned earlier, but the check rear lights message only comes on when pressing the pedal, which does make sense since it's only look at the brake circuit when the pedal is depressed. Weird that it doesn't come on though any other time.

I haven't had experience with these before, but barring anything obvious like a wire somewhere that I can find, is this basically a "replace the module" deal? Guess I need to locate it and trace back and forth anyway, but just trying to get an idea of what I'm in store for now.

 

Hello Moderator:
With the number of problems that this damn SLCM causes, I suggest putting a "Sticky" at the top of the forum. This damn SLCM causes more problems, and it's easy to fix that it should be easy to find for anyone using these boards. The only real issue at times is finding the right code# for the one you have. So far, I have always found the right replacement one on ebay. I actually keep a spare one now. I hate this damn SLCM!!!!! Also, maybe put the address and contact info for the guy in Idaho who rebuilds them.

Just a suggestion.

 

I'm inclined to agree. After I posted my last, I hit more searches with that, and goodness that thing has caused problems! I'm pulling it out of the car now, and taking a peek to see what I can find.

Edit: If a moderator wants to delete this thread for redundancy, I'm totally ok with that.

 

Ok, random thing I noticed today. Input welcomed.

So I realized that I caused my issue, by tapping into the passenger side brake light wire at the panel for the wiring for my trailer wiring box. Ok, so that makes sense, if I overloaded the SLCM circuit because of that.

Here's the kicker: the car's brake light is lit 24/7, which implies to me that the circuit is bad and feeding full-time voltage through the wire. The feed for the trailer wiring, is from the same wire that the bulb is lit on. But if I plug a trailer into it, the car bulb stays lit, and the trailer doesn't. The trailer works as expected in every function.

I did unhook the wire feeding to the trailer module (A Curtis 54196 or something like that), which didn't fix anything.

I guess it could be possible that something in that trailer module went bad instead, which is back-feeding over to that connector somehow, so I'll completely remove that altogether in a couple hours on my next break.