Hi,

starting yesterday after i rotated the tyres (completly unrelated i'm guessing) when i put my right hand indicator on, my brake lights flash with the indicator. and when i put my brakes on, my right hand side indicator comes on (solid). i am guessing crossed wires somewhere, but thought it may be a common issue that is easy to fix. istead of ripping out the harness and searching for a fault. Any ideas?

thanks, Tom

A bad earth somewhere will do this. Check the earth for the brake lights/rear light harness in the boot, look for loose or corroded connections to the bodywork under the carpet - a good scrub with sandpaper will fix it. It's been wet up there in Banana land, that's probably why it's acting up.

If you opened the boot to get the jack out during the tyre rotation, you may have bumped or damaged some wiring? Have a look-see!

Yup,

These symptoms are definitely showing that the RH taillamp earth point is the problem.

Open boot, remove the carpet cover over the RH taillamp. First try removing and replacing the wiring plug on this lamp.
It looks as if the earth point on a TJ is just to the right of the centre of the car, under the boot lip plastic trim.
Just loosen and retighten.
Gerry

Yes, that's where it is. The boot lid plastic trim of a sedan just pulls up to release, if you are wondering. There may be others but that's just a matter of tracing the loom back under the driver's side cover and see if there are more. If you have a towbar or station wagon, it's a different kettle of fish, but the same principle applies.

I'm annoyed with Mitsu, the third gen has minor problems not found on the second gen, cost cutting to blame I guess.

is that the trim that surrounds the latch for the boot lid to lock into? the earth there is fine. also, i didnt use a jack, i used a forklift under the passanger side of the car. (very gentle) then lowered the car back down, it was after this i noticed the problem. would putting the forks under the car in the center have done anything to cause this problem? also, the only earth i can see in the boot is the antenna earth and the earth about 6 inches from the boot latch "hook" above the bumper towards the drivers side of the car.

also, i didnt use a jack, i used a forklift under the passanger side of the car. (very gentle) then lowered the car back down, it was after this i noticed the problem. would putting the forks under the car in the center have done anything to cause this problem?

Are you serious??

Where abouts under the car did the forks contact? Could have caused all sorts of damage, I wouldn't be too worried about the brake light problem now... Could have a damaged fuel tank, damaged fuel lines, crushed exhaust for a start.
I'd be taking it to a mechanic with a hoist and getting them to check for damage.

Are you serious??

Where abouts under the car did the forks contact? Could have caused all sorts of damage, I wouldn't be too worried about the brake light problem now... Could have a damaged fuel tank, damaged fuel lines, crushed exhaust for a start.
I'd be taking it to a mechanic with a hoist and getting them to check for damage.

your silly. my previous post stated where i put the forks, you'll find its very close to where your mechanic would put the car on the hoist. the tip of the forks were only in about 3 inches past the seam where the jack goes any way. the reason i asked if it would cause the problem is because i was unsure if the tilting from the lifting would loosen any known weak spots in the electrical system

back on topic, i found the problem. it was the trailer plug that had scraped the ground upon exiting my driveway that caused all this. like i thought, it was the indicator and brake wires crossing.

my previous post stated where i put the forks, you'll find its very close to where your mechanic would put the car on the hoist. the tip of the forks were only in about 3 inches past the seam where the jack goes any way.

No, it didn't include exactly where you put them. It just said "under the passenger side, gently".

Anyway, glad you found the issue.

You didn't mention you had a towbar. lol

Jacking: If you look closely at the design of the jack and the jacking points, you might notice all of the car's weight is taken on the bodywork just behind the seam, not on the seam or 3 inches away from it. It's the strongest part of the underbody, anywhere else is rather soft. 3 inches past the seam is the wrong spot. When a car is hoisted off the floor in a workshop, the guys are careful to place the supports of the hoist on the same spots just inside the seam. Anywhere else you risk the chance of damage, bent floorpan, brake and fuel lines, etc. Of course, at the wreckers they do this all the time, even going as far as putting the blades through the front windscreen to lift a car by the roof, but they are already wrecked. lol

I've seen too many cars with bent seams and crushed underbody components. Best check if your shortcut has bent anything.

of course it didnt, you are all scared you are going to break these cars like they are totally made of plastic. i have had the entire car pivoting a spare tyre under the center of the pasenger and drivers side before (when i changed the clutch, then the diff) if they were that delicate, every time you scrape the middle on a speed bump they would bend. fyi, when the car was see-sawing on the tyres i could easily open and shut all doors, boot and bonnet. very little flex.

Previous owner jacked my TJ up at a rail at the right spot at the rear, but further in. I found that that rail had collapsed, and the floor under the passenger front seat bent up by about 7 cm, enough to make the mounting points for that seat not to line up with the mounts on the floor.

Also hate it when people jack up and collapse the actual seam - bugger to fix.

Just saying.

Previous owner jacked my TJ up at a rail at the right spot at the rear, but further in. I found that that rail had collapsed, and the floor under the passenger front seat bent up by about 7 cm, enough to make the mounting points for that seat not to line up with the mounts on the floor.

Also hate it when people jack up and collapse the actual seam - bugger to fix.

Just saying.

i under stand that but he was jacking it up on a 1.5mm thick piece of steel, on a jack with a top of no more than 1 sqare inch i am guessing, as opposed to 2 x 5 inch wide forks, pressing on the seam of the car.

Fair enough, as long as that works for you.