Electrical Question: 2001 Caravan Tail Light

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Scott Dudley - 19 Oct 2006 18:35 GMT

My wife recently backed her 2001 Caravan into something and destroyed
the tail light. I was able to readily obtain another from a 2003 or 04.

Hadn't yet removed the original so didn't notice until I got home that
the new models use a single, multi-filament bulb for both tail and brake
where on the original, they used two separate bulbs.

So... her vehicle has two separate leads for brake and tail lamps. Can
I rewire or otherwise modify to work with the new, single bulb?

Many thanks.

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Rodan - 20 Oct 2006 01:09 GMT

"Scott Dudley" wrote: 2001 Caravan

I need to replace a broken tail light. I found one
from a 2003/04 Caravan that has a 2-filament bulb
for both tail and brake lights where the original
used two separate 1-filament bulbs. Can I rewire
my car to work with the new, single bulbs?

_____________________________________________________

Yes. New wires are not needed. Discard the two old
cable plugs and splice the car wires to the single
plug from the new light assembly. The brake wire
goes to the brighter filament in a 2-filament bulb.
View the sketches below in lucida or courier font.

Good luck.

Rodan.

===============================================

(CONN)
BRAKE/TURN ___
-------------------| | UNBROKEN
GND---|___| BRAKE LIGHT
PLUG
___
------------| | UNBROKEN
| GND---|___| TAIL LIGHT
TAIL | PLUG
-------|
|
|
| ___
------------| | BROKEN
GND---|___| TAIL LIGHT
PLUG
___
GND---| | BROKEN
-------------------|___| BRAKE LIGHT
BRAKE/TURN PLUG

============================================

BRAKE/TURN ___
-------------------| | UNBROKEN
GND---|___| BRAKE LIGHT
PLUG
___
------------| | UNBROKEN
| GND---|___| TAIL LIGHT
| PLUG
TAIL |
-------|
|
|
|
|
| ___
| GND---| | NEW
------------| | BRAKE/TAIL
-------------------|___| PLUG
BRAKE-TURN

===========================================

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Comboverfish - 20 Oct 2006 17:43 GMT

> My wife recently backed her 2001 Caravan into something and destroyed
> the tail light. I was able to readily obtain another from a 2003 or 04.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Many thanks.

You could splice the existing tail, brake, and ground wires into one
socket.... My question is -- how little do you value this repair? Is
it worth some meager savings to have mismatched rear light housings on
a 2001 Caravan? I'm hardly a safety nazi, but if a car came into my
shop with mismatched lights, I would first suspect that it fails a
state safety inspection due to non original design safety eqipment,
then I would go to the book to confirm my suspicion.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are talking about replacing only one
of the housings, true?

Toyota MDT in MO

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