Front Parking lights wont light.

[mattsmoski]

The side and front parking lights wont come on in either park or drive. Only will work when the turn signal is used. One more thing, the right marker fender one is very dim as a parking light but is bright when in turn signal mode. Electrical stuff I'm not too good at. I need instructions on how to find a short. This is on a 1986 M 1008, no modifications have been done to it. Thank You Matt

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

You don't need to find a short. That word is much abused. Shorts cause blown fuses and melted wires. Sometimes, fires. You have no symptoms of a short circuit.

You have symptoms of a bad ground or bad switch somewhere, or possibly a broken connection or wire. In other words, an open (or partially open) circuit. That the exact opposite of a short.


Solving an electrical problem is a step by step process. It's not unusual to have more than one problem, so you need to do one thing at a time to find and solve those problems. Sort of like peeling an onion. You get one layer (problem) taken care of, and now you can see the next one. It's very common for one electrical problem to mask another, so it is very important to take it one step at a time.

A scattergun approach will leave you very frustrated, and is often very expensive.

So, first things first - clean your grounds. Near each light fixture you'll find a ground wire coming from the light fixture and connected to the frame or sheet metal somewhere. Find that connection (typically a sheet metal screw through an eye connector) and take it apart. Get busy with a wire brush or sandpaper and clean it up. You want to see shiny metal on the connector and where it mounts. Now slap on some dielectric grease (which prevents corrosion in electrical contact points) and put it back together.

Once you have done that for both sides (wouldn't hurt to do front and back, too), see where you stand. If the problem is still there, we'll go on to the next step. Your -20 manual will tell you step by step directions for solving almost every problem, and they are written for 18 year olds who know nothing. They are very helpful.

 

[mattsmoski]

Thank you very much for this information. I printed it.
Matt

 

[Mainsail]

I just finally figured out my left turn signal problem- and it was not the stick.

I had several people tell me my left brake light was out. Pull the bulb- it looks & tests good.

Then I notice the filament that's burning when the lights are on is not the right one. Pressing the brake pedal makes the light go out.

I use the test lead to create a ground path for the bulb socket and everything works right.

Techno sends me a pic of the wiring diagram and the rear bulb finds its ground in the front turn/marker light assembly.

So I suppose the ground wire between the rear assy and the front assy is broken somewhere.

Now there's a wire jammed in between the bulb and the socket and connected to the assy screw to make the ground.

Everything works right. Calling it fixed for now.

 

[dependable]

There is a ground wire in the front marker/directional signal socket that is often causes the problem you have. The contact in the plastic socket gets iffy, the easiest fix is to replace socket(s) but they can be fixed also.

 

[ehuppert]

There is a ground wire in the front marker/directional signal socket that is often causes the problem you have. The contact in the plastic socket gets iffy, the easiest fix is to replace socket(s) but they can be fixed also.

There is also a ground to the body at the rear lights. Know for sure there's one on the right side, don't remember if one on the left side. Wire is grounded behind the right side light assembly to the bed with a self tapper.

 

[dependable]

There is also a ground to the body at the rear lights. Know for sure there's one on the right side, don't remember if one on the left side. Wire is grounded behind the right side light assembly to the bed with a self tapper.

Yeh, there are a lot of grounds, and of course one should clean and secure them all, just pointing out a common problem that is not obvious on first look.

 

[ehuppert]

Yeh, there are a lot of grounds, and of course one should clean and secure them all, just pointing out a common problem that is not obvious on first look.

OP stated rear brake light was not grounded properly. Rear lights do not ground through the front light socket, ground to body is in vicinity of rear light assembly.... just saying as I've btdt