Fuse for Right Hand Tail Light Only?

Hey everyone,

After a long time lurking here, I bought a 2nd hand 2011 Leaf from Japan (I'm in New Zealand) a couple of months back. So far I'm loving it, but I decided I wanted to DIY the reversing camera retrofit that is detailed on a few places around the net.

In the process of trying to find somewhere to power the camera from, I decided to try find out which wire in the loom powers the right hand reversing light. I unplugged the right hand tail light unit and started checking the pins on the connector for 12V. While doing this, I slipped and think I may have shorted the tail light pin to ground. There was a brief spark and I shrugged, thinking I'd just need to go find the fuse for the rear lights.

Turns out that all the lights are working fine, except that one right hand tail light. Brake lights are working on both sides, reversing lights are working, I forgot to try indicators etc. but I don't see why they wouldn't work.

I've checked through the fuse box on the left hand side of the cabin and both of the ones under the hood but couldn't see anything that looked blown or like it might be related to the rear lights. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that the left hand tail light still works, which is making me a little worried.

Anyone have any suggestions for anything I can do further to troubleshoot or anywhere I might be able to find additional fuses? I don't have enough covers off to just start chasing the loom forwards through the car yet.

TL;DR: Shorted a wire in the connector for the right hand tail light cluster while being a goon and now ONLY the right hand tail light doesn't work, all other right hand lights work. Looking for suggestions

Never mind, found the relevant part of the service manual and found the relevant fuse in the IPDM (which it took me a little while to figured out, but is the large square fusebox on the right hand side of the vehicle). Replaced the fuse and everything is all good.

Glad you found your problem. Question: There's a fuse the protects only ONE light? That seems quite strange.

The intelligent power distribution module engine room (IPDM E/R) is located above and behind the fender on the left side of the car (by the 12-volt battery). It has a bunch of fuses on the bottom side of it for various lighting, control, and accessory circuits. The tail and marker lights are segregated left and right (2 fuses). The headlights are segregated left and right high beam and left and right low beam (4 fuses). There is a relay box on the right side of the car that contains several small relays, but no fuses.

I found the IPDM E/R a few days after getting the 2015 when I replaced the front parking lights with LEDs. I must have inadvertently shorted the contacts in the bulb socket on the left side because the left tail light and front park light went out. I looked in all the fuse blocks shown in the owner manual and could not find anything. I finally looked at the service manual for the 2011 and found the power distribution module. I opened the module and found a blown fuse on the bottom side.

Gerry

Edited 5/20/2016 to correct module descriptions to match service manual.

Yeah, I was really surprised that it was specific down to just the one rear tail light, especially considering that it's a 10A fuse and LED light unit!

Gerry: You mean under the hood and in front (towards the front bumper) of the wheel wells? That's exactly where this was. Left hand side of the car (right hand side when looking into the motor compartment from the front of the car) and on the underside. It's an odd configuration for it, having everything on the underside and needing to turn it over to get access... It's awkward enough that I wish they had left a bit more of a service loop in the cable there.

The box on the other side looks like it has a few relays in it and it laid out more normally, with it being a fixed panel and a lid over it.

I've got all the wiring in now, just need to finalise the position of the camera and get it wired into the back of the head unit.

I corrected the descriptions in my earlier post. You are right--they could have given us a little more wire to work with. I don't have any pictures of my 2011 that show the module, but it is back by the 12-volt battery and firewall on the 2015 (away from the bumper). Good luck with your backup camera project. I would not want a Leaf without a backup camera because it has a larger blind area than my SUV or pickup.

Gerry

Thank you for finding that fuse! Unfortunately I can’t seem to stop blowing that fuse. I don’t recall any sparking , but I did put led’s in the license plate lights, which also no longer receive power. That right hand tail light works, just it isn’t receiving power. What else should I check?

Some small LED replacement bulbs are polarity sensitive and may appear as a low resistance if installed backward. Therefore I suggest you remove the LED license plate lights and see if that stops your fuse failures. If so, carefully verify polarity of each bulb before reinstalling or find other LED bulbs to use.

Thanks for this thread! It helped me as I did the opposite, I blew the fuse that maps to the left side tail light on my '16 SL. An interesting add on is this fuse also protects the little running lights that sit right next to the high beam bulbs. I was swapping out the incandescent bulbs with LED and didn't turn the lights off while re-inserting the bulb into the light housing .... POOF! Anyways, replacing the 10A fuse fixed it & I would have never found those hidden fuses without this thread. Thanks again!

I am new to the car and my left hand one is out. Works when the brake is depressed. How do I locate the one you found?