chalalola

I checked all the fuses, under the hood and under driver side dash as you recommended. They are all good. It is kind of weird that all the other lights work but not the two license plate ones....

themonsteraria

Then as Shameinator said, you've got to get out the multi-meter and start testing the voltage at every point all the way back to the actual sockets. I'm guessing that the short is in a ground somewhere in the trunk lid.

chalalola

I checked the voltage coming out of the sockets. It reads 0.000 when lights off and 0.001 when they are on. The voltage is not getting there like on the tail lights.

themonsteraria

What did you expect? If the lights don't come on, then there isn't going to be any voltage at the sockets.

You need to figure out exactly where the short is in the line going back to the sockets.

chalalola

I'm trying tofollow the cables but there is so much tape....

themonsteraria

That'll happen. But keep following it, testing it at any junctions or splits, and you should eventually come across the problem.:shrug:

Line7

Yeah, its tricky finding the junctions where you are using voltage. What I do sometimes, is hook up a battery charger at spots tracking back from the resistor(the light bulb inyour case) That helps sometimes. With older cars, wires get corroded and dont assume that nobody has messed with those wires before you, because they probably did.

BTW, if you would have a short (a wire grounding itself), you would be blowing fuses, check the fuses with a test light.

chalalola

I printed the diagram of the fuse box that said that the fuse for dash lights, front parking lights, taillights and license plate lights is the same and uses a 15A fuse. The fuse box they mentionned is the one located under the hood . If I take the fuse out the taillights go out when I replaced the taillights worked again. I replaced the fuse anyway.

Ijust quit for today. The only thing I found out was that the taillights located on the lid of the trunk are not working either. The one working are the ones located on the outside corners of the car.

themonsteraria

This is good info.. The short has to be between the car, and the trunk lid. I'd bet money that the bundle of wires that goes to the trunk lid is rubbing somewhere whenever you open the trunk. Try looking in that area for signs of stretching, rubbing, or corrosion.

newend

I have a 2005 Honda Civic with the same problem. I discovered it when a cop was kind enough to pull me over and tell me about it. As others have done, I replaced both lights and checked all the fuses. Then I discovered a few websites mentioning wiring shorts. I was able to get my light working for a little while by pushing the cables at the arm of the trunk towards the front of the car. That lasted a few weeks before it went out again (not a huge surprise), then I did the same thing again, and got it to go for another week or so. It's been out for a few weeks, and Honda wants $90 to start to look at it. I suspect the proble is at the junction between the wires that run along the trunk deck and toward the outside rear lights. I was hoping that someone had solved this problem and could give me a good place to start looking rather than going crazy with the box cutter on all the casing covering the wires.

Interestingly, my reverse lights still work.