Brake lights suddenly are VERY dim

[DarkoNova]

Ok so a couple years ago I switched to some LED taillights from Technostalgia and I loved em. They were nice and bright, even in direct sunlight.

Here's a pic from a year or so ago:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=2838233)

Here's a pic I just took today:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/05/100_0817-1.jpg

Quite a huge difference. I think the stock 1156 bulbs were brighter than those.

The only things I've changed recently were going from a large body HEI to an MSD Pro-Billet with a Blaster SS coil (using the same power wire I used for the other distributor). I have the distributor grounded to a carburetor stud (should be good as the choke is using the same stud).

Other than that, I've added an Autometer speedometer since the needle in my stock one snapped off. The only connections (mechanical gauge) were for the light, so I spliced those into the light wires for the Autometer tach (had that for at least 3-4 years now).

Those are the only two things I've changed. I even tried reversing the wires for the LED's and that just made the brake lights stay on all the time, so I put it back. Checked the grounds for them and they were fine. I tried disconnecting the coil and that didn't help either.

Any ideas? :confused:

I don't like driving my car now because I'm afraid of getting rear ended.:crying:

Matt

[Damn True]

You may have a bad ground at the lights, or the relay sending power to the lights. Check your connections for corrosion.

[DarkoNova]

What relay? Did the factory use a relay? I'm using the stock wiring. :confused:

I checked the grounds for the lights and even re-did them and it's the same brightness. :sick:

Matt

[DarkoNova]

Well the brake lights are fixed. I noticed a couple days ago when my engine started acting up that my hazard lights wouldn't come on when I pushed the switch. The last time that happened, it was because the connections for the fuse were rusty and I had to clean them off. So I pulled the fuse and sanded off the connectors (with my high tech fuse cleaner: a rolled up piece of sand paper), put a new fuse in (broke the old one pulling it out, lol) and now they're as bright as they used to be. And my hazards work again, so that's nice, too. :)

Matt