These lights contains electroluminicent tape (el tape) which basicly is a phosphor covered tape which glows steadily when supplied with AC power . The down side of this is that they slowly degrade and eventually break from the suns UV rays. ( we are talking 10-15 years, which is why most of these on older vehicles are broken since long)
Before you do anything, check that your inverter is working.
These lights run on 110V AC which is supplied from an inverter located on a left hand side beam behind the carpeting in your trunk.
I ordered some EL tape for 2$ on ebay and it came with an inverter as well. If your inverter is shot you can modify the new inverter which came with the tape using the contacts from the old inverter and plug in right in.
In my case both the inverter and the EL tapes were dead.
If so, do the following:
When you have the light assembly out of the car, take a fine and sharp knife and gently, very gently pry the plastic lens away from the housing and remove the light strip inside.
Take your new EL tape and cut it to fit inside the housing.
Use a soldering iron to gently solder the old connectors onto the end of the light strip. There is a copper strip running through the length of EL tape, make sure to solder one connctor on to the right side of this copper strip and the other to the left side of the copper strip.
When the above steps are done, use the small inverter that came with the EL tape and a 9V battery to test operation of the lights before assembly on the vehicle.
Before sealing off the light assembly take some clear tape and seal of any cut edges on your new EL strips, You can allso put clear tape lengthwise over the EL strip to protect it somewhat more from UV rays.
Then use a clear super glue to glue the lenses back onto the housing and wait for it to harden.
Next, use some clear silicon to seal off the assembly from moisture, this is a crucial step if you want your lights to last.
Assemble your new lights back onto your vehicle!
If you decide to to this feel free to contact me for more help!