Subaru - no taillights :(

Car: 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback (155k miles)

Symptom: No parking or taillights when I turn on the headlights

Checks: Relay appears good because the interior illumination lights work, the fuse box shows no signs of charring from overamping and no wiring appears to be cut.

Possible causes?

I shorted the system 6 months ago when wiring up trailor lights. Didn't have a 10 amp fuse, so replaced with a 20 amp, worked for 6 months no problem, did I kill the circuit that way?

The subaru alarm system E36 M3 the bed about a month ago, so I kicked it and it stopped making weird clicking noises, so I figured it was fine, nothing seemed to come of that other than having to reset the radio, but when it died, it was flicking the parking lights on and off, could this be wired into that system?

I probably should go get another multimeter and check the circuit through the fuse box, but its 30F outside and I have no garage to work on it, so I think I'll just wait until next weekend when its closer to 50F.

Any thoughts what else I should check?

I bought a car with this problem (great tool for haggling), and I had a friend whose car had this problem.

My fix: remove and replace every taillight and brake light bulb. I found an 1156 (single filament) where an 1157 (dual) should have been.

Friend's car: while removing every bulb to diagnose, I found a wire that got pinched. Cut/splice wire.

Each car took less than 30 minutes and less than a buck to fix. However, I do have a half-full box of 1156 bulbs, left over from 1992. Those, along with a few cans of R12 freon are just some of the obsolete crap I keep around. I don't know why.

didn't find any pinched wires and don't see how they could have gotten that way and all bulbs are correct and functional. Oh well,

Could be the switch.

This problem will be nearly impossible to solve without a test light...do you at least have one of those? In cases of bulb checks, I find a test light easier to use than a multimeter. Stick it to ground, check the fuses, then start probing from one end to the other (in this case, I'd probably start at the bulbs and probe forward, your trailer wiring sounds suspect).

Bryce

my trailer wiring is suspect, however it worked for 6 months, no problem, so its hard to say.

I broke down and bought a multimeter today, so I'll see if power is atleast leavnig the fuse box this afternoon.

Don't discount the relay just yet. My FC's brake lights stopped working shortly after I bought it. I didn't know about it until the shop I had the car inspected at pointed it out to me . All the bulbs were fine, and I thought that since the interior lights still worked, it might have been a problem with the brake pedal light switch. The switch tested fine. I finally decided to remove the black box that included the brake light relay, and, lo and behold, there were a bunch of bad solder joints. I desoldered and resoldered the bad joints, and the brake lights worked again.

i'm reasonably certain its the parking switch now, which is built in to the combination switch, which is $300 new,

new?! check junkyards, eBay, and subaru forums!!

In reply to Stuc:

there are some in junkyards, I hate having to wait for shipment, but I guess it depends how cheap I want to be.

'97 Subaru Combo Switch purchased on ebay, $50 shipped,