Rear Marker Lights ? Fuse?

[charger53]

I searched the TM's and took a look at the P2P, but have not found a answer, so I am asking the gurus if anyone has advice before I dig into the wiring harness.
The story is that one of the rear marker lamps was out, I opened it up and checked for power with a volt meter before running out to buy a bulb. Turns out it had power, however while checking the wire I also touched the ground with the meters probe, Now no power just like I blew a fuse, however I can not find one and the rest of the marker lamps except the one on the opposite side work? hmmm. The probe made contact for a split second, but long enough to arc. I thought I blew a fuse or circuit breaker, but have been unable to locate one. Any advice before I start tracing wires and opening up the harness?

 

[M35A2-AZ]

The trucks have no fuses, there is some breakers on the fire wall but one is for the horn and the other is for...can not remember.
The breakers reset on there own. You may need to check the ground for the light and check the connection of the plug.

 

[charger53]

Thank you, That's what I was thinking, but hoping I was wrong. I have checked the ground, Its good, and the connections in the plug are solid. there is no current getting to the plug on either side, so I will start tracing the wires tonight when I get home. I have a home wiring tracer, so I may try to connect it and see if I get lucky and find a break or bad connection without going through the whole harness

 

[M35A2-AZ]

If they are the very back red ones then they should tie into the the rear light harness.

 

[charger53]

They are the amber side markers at the back sides of the bed. They look like they tie into the rear light harness. I could just tie into the rear trailer harness or the rear tail lamp harness, but I am more concerned that I burned a wire in half somewhere and will have problems later from it. (melted wires never work out well for me) I have traces it back to where the harness is all taped and have good ground, but no power, so my bet is that I fried a wire or connector somewhere in the harness. It has to be between the main rear harness and the leads to those two lamps because all the rest works just fine. I bet I don't have to cut to much tape to find the problem.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Did you check the fuse in the meter after you caused the short with the probe? If you have a cheaper multimeter then it probably doesn't have fuses and the meter is just fried now. Make sure to verify your meter before troubleshooting further. I seriously doubt you hurt the wiring unless there was already a questionable spot somewhere. That's 14ga wire and should easily survive a quick short.

My truck has a shell connector extension between the light lead and the main harness lead. I'm not sure if this is original or they replaced a bad spot in the wire but one of those connectors might be lose if you have them.

 

[juanprado]

My guess would be to look at the light switch and make sure you did not fry it.

 

[charger53]

it's a fluke meter and it still works fine, but it's a good suggestion. I do have the same connectors, but have no power there either. I thought about the headlamp switch as well, but the schematic says all the marker lamps are the same circuit and the rest of them work. It has to be between the amber lights and the main harness. I agree about the wiring, but can't think of any other reason unless there is a bad connection further down the line inside the tape