I have a 96 camry, I do not have tail lights when I turn on the lights. I have brake, turn and backup lights but no tail lights. The bulbs are good, I have even tried a lamp failure sensor from a junkyard, and tried to bypass the sensor...any suggestions.

 

The tail lights stop working when you turn on the headlights?

But work OK with the headlights off?

 

When the lights are turned on or off, I have brake, turn and back up lights but I have no tail or courtesy lights at any time whether the lights are on or off.

 

Assume the courtesy lights are the front and back side marker lights. If so these lights are NOT on the lamp failure sensor circuit. The wiring for the lights bypasses the sensor.

The problem appears to be ahead of the lamp failure sensor.

Have you checked the TAIL fuse? Location is behind the drivers side ash tray near your left knee. Remove the ash tray access the box.

If the fuse is OK check the Tail Light relay location in a relay box next to the fuse box above.

The light control switch on the steering column grounds this relay to turn it on. The ground wire from the relay solenoid goes through the integration relay first then to the light switch.

It is possible the light switch has bad electrical contacts that are not working or a problem in then tail light wiring resulted in a blown fuse.