no taillights

[dave dean]

with headlights on I have no taillights.i do however have reverse and directional and brake lights.so this means no night driving who's been threw this? bulbs and fuses look good.

[Crono0001]

Replace bulbs anyways.
They're 8 bucks.

EDIT: a good way to see if they're bad is to take brake lights and switch with tail lights. I believe they're the same bulb.

[rick3000]

The brake pedal switch is probably bad. There is a physical switch on the brake pedal (that triggers the brake lights). They get a lot of wear, luckily it is a very simple DIY and only costs about $20. I replaced my clutch switch (basically the same switch, location, etc) to solve my cruise control not triggering, takes about 5 minutes.

Link: Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Brake Pedal Switch Replacement / Clutch Pedal Switch Replacement - 986 / 987

[billj18]

I don't know if this applies: I had a problem with my left taillight bulb going out. The bulb was good. The taillight carrier is a plastic cover with a metal "circuit board" pressed into it with metal tabs on the circuit. Over time, the tabs around the taillight bulb --not any of the others -- lost their grip. The tension of the bulb socket spring and vibration would cause the circuit board to pull away from the plastic cover, until the bulb lost contact. I tried resetting it a couple of times to no avail. I finally pulled off the metal circuit and put a dab of epoxy in all of the holes. That fixed it.

Bill

[woodsman]

There's probably a relay that's just for the tails or they may be linked with the front parking or positioning lights. If not that then it could be the light switch which is a common problem on these cars. A look at the schematics is the only way to find the potential causes other than 'diagnosis by parts replacement'. I just fixed a similar problem -a daytime running light relay $60. Maybe there's an online source for Boxster schemantics.