Right tail light fuse blowing

[farcanal]

So, I hook up the camper trailer to set off for a 3 week road trip to Adelaide. I check all lights and notice I have no right hand tail light on the Pajero (2018 NX) and on the camper.
I'm thinking probably a globe in the car so call in to Repco Esperance and buy
a couple of tail light globes. Fit new globe, still nothing.
I then discovered the tail lights have a fuse each and the right hand one is blown. Replace fuse, blows again.
I've had the camper for 12 years and never had any trouble with the lights and I've also done a few trips with the camper with the new NX.
I managed to do a quick bodgie job by running a wire from the left tail light to the right one to get my lights working for the trip.
Now, the only thing that's changed in the 2 weeks preceeding this trip was I had a new Mitsubishi bulbar fitted by the dealer.
I know this is a long shot , but has anyone had a bulbar fitted and had subsequent trouble with lights? I don't want to go off half cocked back at the dealer, but it seems like a coincidence that suddenly I'm blowing a tail light fuse since the bar was fitted.
TIA

[Keithyv]

So you are saying that the right hand on the car and the right hand on the camper are out but the left hand ones are both okay?

There is only 1 wire to the tail lights on a trailer so my guess is that there is a short in the camper somewhere. Does the car fuse blow with the camper not plugged in?

What happens when you swap the left and right globes on the camper, does the RH side stay off?

Basically you need to track down if the camper is the cause of the issue or the car.
Is the 'bodge job' on the camper or the car?

[Kingbrown]

The position/parking lamps on your bullbar would most likely share the tail lamp circuits (Left and Right respectively).
If the bullbar is the only change since things were working properly then the bullbar marker lights is where I would be looking.

[farcanal]

So you are saying that the right hand on the car and the right hand on the camper are out but the left hand ones are both okay?

There is only 1 wire to the tail lights on a trailer so my guess is that there is a short in the camper somewhere. Does the car fuse blow with the camper not plugged in?

What happens when you swap the left and right globes on the camper, does the RH side stay off?

Basically you need to track down if the camper is the cause of the issue or the car.
Is the 'bodge job' on the camper or the car?

Sorry mate, I think I was a tad vague.
The trailer tail lights pick up the feed from the right hand tail light of the car. So no right hand tail light means no tail lights on the trailer.
To get me through the trip legally I tapped a wire into the left hand car tail light, ran it across to the right hand tail light and also cut the wire from the car harness to that light, and then ran a wire from this wire down to the trailer plug. That gave me tail lights on both the car and the trailer.
The fuse blows even with the trailer disconnected.
Even with the right hand tail light wire from the car being cut, the fuse still blows, which means there's a short somewhere in the car harness.

[spot01]

Do you have the genuine MMAL trailer wiring harness in the Paj?



As mentioned, the front parker lamp is probably on the same fuse/circuit & may be the cause. Try isolating the front right parker lamp if possible.

[farcanal]

Do you have the genuine MMAL trailer wiring harness in the Paj?



As mentioned, the front parker lamp is probably on the same fuse/circuit & may be the cause. Try isolating the front right parker lamp if possible.

Cheers spot, I was thinking along those lines, but not knowing the fitting procedure of the MMAL bulbar I can't say for certain that they have caused the problem when fitting the bullbar.
Reading my owners manual I can't see if my car actually has front parking lights. It describes the light switch operation as "The 1st click turns on tail lights and instrument lights "

Yes, I have the genuine MMAL trailer harness and to enable me to get the trailer tail lights to work on my trip I actually cut the brown wire that goes into the trailer socket and joined in my wire from the left hand tail light wire on the car. This gave me power to the trailer tail lights. So, at the moment the power wire to the right hand tail light on the car and the power wire to the trailer socket tail lights are both cut......and the fuse still blows.

I probably need to speak to the bloke who fitted the bulbar at the dealership, which I doubt they will allow me.

I hope all this makes sense.

[spot01]

Cheers spot, I was thinking along those lines, but not knowing the fitting procedure of the MMAL bulbar I can't say for certain that they have caused the problem when fitting the bullbar.
Reading my owners manual I can't see if my car actually has front parking lights. It describes the light switch operation as "The 1st click turns on tail lights and instrument lights "

Yes, I have the genuine MMAL trailer harness and to enable me to get the trailer tail lights to work on my trip I actually cut the brown wire that goes into the trailer socket and joined in my wire from the left hand tail light wire on the car. This gave me power to the trailer tail lights. So, at the moment the power wire to the right hand tail light on the car and the power wire to the trailer socket tail lights are both cut......and the fuse still blows.

I probably need to speak to the bloke who fitted the bulbar at the dealership, which I doubt they will allow me.

I hope all this makes sense.

The NX with LED DRLs uses the DRLS at half brightness as parkers - if you turn the parkers on with engine off you should see this?


So, they would have messed around with the DRL/parkers when fitting the genuine roo bar, so I think it highly likely they have somehow caused this - have a look in behind the bar at the back of the DRL if you can for a pinched wire, etc., or have a chat with them.

[farcanal]

The NX with LED DRLs uses the DRLS at half brightness as parkers - if you turn the parkers on with engine off you should see this?


So, they would have messed around with the DRL/parkers when fitting the genuine roo bar, so I think it highly likely they have somehow caused this - have a look in behind the bar at the back of the DRL if you can for a pinched wire, etc., or have a chat with them.

Well...Bingo!!….just went out to the car and checked. Left hand DRL certainly comes on , but the right side doesn't.
Got underneath with a bright torch and sure enough, jammed under a bulbar bracket on the right side is a thin wiring harness.
Many thanks, I think I'll take it back and get them to sort it out.
In the mean time, at least I've got tail lights with my bodgie temporary wiring set up.
Cheers.

[Mike DiD]

Well...Got underneath with a bright torch and sure enough, jammed under a bulbar bracket on the right side is a thin wiring harness. . . . . .

Great Quality Control they must have, to check everything before handing over to the customer !!

[farcanal]

Great Quality Control they must have, to check everything before handing over to the customer !!

Yep, they had the car for most of the day.
Checking all lights should be mandatory after changing lights out from bumper to bull bar

[Hatto]

Checking all lights should be mandatory after changing lights out from bumper to bull bar

That makes far to much sense

[farcanal]

Update:-
Dropped the car in for the day last Thursday, removed bulbar, repaired and relocated wiring harness.
I Hope the problem was pointed out to the guy who originally fitted the bar.
After my last episode with the rear extension housing oil seal leak (Fixed after 6 attempts) it makes me very reluctant to get my car serviced with this crowd.
Front suspension recall done as well.