2010 Liberty Tail lights working, brake lights not working

[10liberty]

I need help diagnosing this!

My top brake light comes on, but my right and left brake lights do not. However, my tail lights do come on when I turn on my headlights. I took apart the housing, and as far as I can tell, the tail lights and brake lights are one and the same, which from what I understand means the problem is not the bulb, the fuse, or the grounding.
(Flashers, turn signals, reverse lights, top brake light--all else works, including tail lights.)

I read somewhere that if the top brake light comes on, it means the problem is not in the wiring of the brake pedal--but I'm not 100% sure that I'm right about any of this.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

 

[xt master]

Tail light and brake light are separate it could be one bulb but would have 2 filaments inside the bulb then. So yes you can have a bad gulf where tail lights work and not the brake lights but to have both sides go is kinda odd.

 

[JPNinPA]

Within the last two months a new jeepz member had a similar issue and explained it nicely. It had to do with the contacts not meeting the bulb.

I'll link if I find it.

** Update - Fixed** After checking the voltages at the tail light socket and verifying that they were the correct values at the correct time (e.g when I turned on the lights and/or pressed the brake pedal), I then swapped in the other tail light bezel...everything worked as it should. This told me that something was wrong with the bezel. Even thought I checked the continuity of the buses in the non-working bezel, and even bent the contacts on the light bulb holders (plugs), it still was not working. After some head scratching I noticed that the contacts on the inside of the bezel where the bulb 'plug' goes, could be bent up....they were pushed into the plastic too far that when the bulb plug was inserted and rotated, the contacts on the plug did not touch the mating contact in the bezel....bending them up a little solved the problem.

 

[SteveMann]

Within the last two months a new jeepz member had a similar issue and explained it nicely. It had to do with the contacts not meeting the bulb.

I'll link if I find it.

I've had the EXACT same problem with my 2003 Grand Cherokee. The problem is a very crappy contact design in the housing. I have to move the socket a little and the problem goes away. The next time, I will replace the bulbs with LEDs then superglue the socket to the housing.