I think my sedan has a crossed wire somewhere in the driver's side tail light cluster.

When the headlights are off and I am not pressing the brake, all rear lights are off, as they should be. When I step on the brake, the proper, single light is illuminated on the right side, but two lights light up on the driver's side, the brake light and the nighttime running light. It's a six-panel cluster--on the driver's side, these lights are the outermost (brake light) and innermost (running light).

When the headlights are on, the "Bulb Failure" idiot light is activated in the dash, and only the right side lights are on. The left side cluster is dark. When I step on the brake, however, all of the proper lights come on. All together, I think that makes it four lights--the outermost and innermost panels in each cluster.

So, I think it's pretty obvious that, in the driver's side cluster, the brakelight and nighttime "running light" are linked together in a way that they're not supposed to be. Because of a crossed wire or some sort of contact between the circuits, the running light comes on during daytime braking, and the running light stays off while driving (not braking) at night.

I've taken the bulbs out of the cluster and made sure they get good contact. I've felt around and tried to see if I could get any loose wires out of the way, but I've found nothing that could be a culprit, and I have not been able to fix the problem.

Can I find a solution by doing little more than removing the plastic tail light cluster in the trunk and working from there, or will I have to get a bit more involved (unscrewing things) in order to find the short?
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'89 244 GL -- 105,XXX miles (see profile for info on car)