located a good salvage yard

this site has helped and informed me.
stumbled across a salvage yard in oregon that some may already know about but thought i would
offer the info : www.wildcatmopars.com
it also offers great links to other sites -

help - passenger side blinker and stop light working fine- but drivers side brake light and signal not working.
replaced bulbs but still not working on drivers side- both fronts work to signal but slow and sparatic- guide me please- when lights are all on they iluminate but rear brake light does not and signal does not.

south 0c in cali

need help with wiring

replace the flasher itself.

bad grounds can do some pretty crazy stuff. make sure you have a REALLY good ground. My A108 was doing all sort of crazy stuff till I locked in a solid ground. Now all the lights work perfect.

I agree with gothboy; clean each ground!
The housing itself must have good contact with the bulb, then have a good clean connection where it bolts to the body. You can even check each bulb with a jumper wire. Connect to a clean, bare spot on the body, then touch it to the bulb housing. Sounds like the LR one which also goes into the fuel filler box is the culprit. Be careful removing it.

South OC=Southern Orange County, California.

the grounds behind light assembly are the only ones i have seen are there others and how do i get at them

good site Rod,

My van REFUSED to acknowledge the mounting plate as the ground even after mucho cleaning. I dripped a self tapping screw into the back, and ran a wire to the body. NEVER have a ground issue a gain with that light! Thats worst case scenario though. If you have an Avan the ground is where the light bolts to the body.

did everything to rear driver side tail light. replaced bulb
replaced light socket and regrounded it. replaced flasher fuse and improved turn signals in front and back passenger tail light. brake light works on passenger tail light but not driver side tail light. the tail lights both light up so power gets to both tail lights but turn signal and brake lights do not function on drivers side .
At my wits end - any local mechanic/ van expert from this site that can help? i live in south orange co. calif

So you have a complete circuit for the tail light and a good ground. You are 2/3rds there!
Now you need to check the turn/brake circuit. Since you have a complete circuit on the passenger side, it proves the brake switch works and that the right circuit is complete. All you need to do is to Diagnose and Repair one circuit.
If I had to guess what is wrong, it would be the turn signal switch. However, these are hard to find, expensive and a booger to replace. So let's actually diagnose the problem to be sure that you fix it right.
The brake circuit is constant on. This means you will always have power to the circuit so you can step on the brakes and the lights will come on even with the ignition off (safety). So you can do your testing without the key on. You also have a brake light on the right, so the power circuit, fuse, brake switch and right circuit is good.

The brake circuit splits at the turn signal switch.

Print out this wiring diagram...
http://www.sweptline.com/tech/68_awire.jpg

The circuit in question is a Yellow wire from the switch to a connector back at the light.
Get a test light. It can be a cheap one, since you don't have computer circuits on the van.

Connect the clip to a good ground (bare metal body part) and make sure it lights up when the point is touched to battery positive. Touch the point to the brake switch output wire to the turn signal switch. It's the White one in the diagram. You will have to carefully separate the connector and probe the part that runs from the dash area. It should provide power each time the pedal is pushed. We are checking your ability to probe and the test light. The right side proves this works. You always work from known good to unknown.
Now, reconnect the White connector and separate the Dark Green wire connector (Right side =good) and the Yellow connector.
You should get power at the DG connector (switch side) when the pedal is pushed. If you also get power at the Y one, the switch is good. The wiring from there back to the light is the problem.
If you do not get power at the Y one, temporarily connect the DG switch wire to the Y dash connector and check the tail light while pressing the pedal. If it works, the circuit is good, the switch is bad. If it does not work, the switch and the wiring are bad.
The switch can sometimes be brought back to life with a good cleaning.

rods very correct!! Ill add = also -remove the bulb in question & look @ the terminals in where that bulb goes in !The contacts are held out by a small spring in the sockets -may have a bad spring ?? they sockets are available also- sort of a universal insides can be replaced. Make sure the bulb is inserted correctly as the guide pins on sides of the brake lite bulbs are offset. makes a diff!!

Rod- YOU ROCK -thanks for the detailed process got home late today to respond with gratitude - new update when i pull out emergency flashers both rear lights flash so circuit reaches light assembly and bulb works - funny thing though front drivers side does not flash when with emergency flashers on but flashes when turn signal is activated- still no brake light driver rear and no signal driver rear - i will have time thur after work to to trouble shoot using your post - thanks a ton- like you said i am close and i feel more optimistic i can get it to work. the trouble began when steering wheel was removed to replace steering gear box. before that all was working but weak circuts due to bad bulbs bad grounds old flasher etc. so the problem has led me to address some needs and has been educational