Taillight wiring problem

[Drock]

(Disclaimer, wiring is a mystery to me)..... So my drivers side taillight is haunted. The blinker works , but the running lights aren't getting any power. I checked (as best I know how) the main plug above the spare tire with a test light and the brown wire for that side has no power also the 4 post trailer plug, again no power. I checked the fuses and the fuse box it's self. But I could only find 1 brown wire coming out the back of it which did have power. I also looked at the light switch and again only 1 brown wire (also getting power). What am I missing? is there a second brown wire? or does it split off somewhere?

 

[cucvrus]

If it is only the left side tail-lamp I am guessing you have a broken wire at the short tail-lamp harness plug or the socket going to that tail-lamp harness on the left is corroded and not making a good contact. The wires do have a split in the rear harness to branch off to each side. You can un-bolt the ground from the frame of the main rear harness and cut the loom/tape from the harness and begin checking/tracing wires with a test lamp or ohm meter. The problem is somewhere in the harness or the tail-lamp harness or socket. I know I am stating the obvious but I am only trying to assist from afar. Good Luck. Seems fairly straight forward.

 

[Drock]

Yeah I checked all 3 plugs at the back of the truck. Both left and right 3 prong taillight plugs. And the big main plug over top of the spare tire. Because electrical problems throw me for a loop I use dielectric grease on everything. I wasn't getting power at the big main plug so the problems got to be further up the line. I ran out of daylight so I didn't get a chance to check any further. Tomorrow I'll see if I get lucky.

 

[cucvrus]

What puzzled me was you said just 1 tail -lamp was not working. Or am I reading it wrong?

 

[Drock]

No you got it right. It's just the drivers side running lights. The blinker and brake light still works.

 

[Sergeant1983]

I had an odd issue like that on my M1009 right tail light that turned out to be the socket. It looked okay but as I was further troubleshooting, a socket connector piece fell out. Make sure you double check the socket itself. Just a thought.

 

[Drock]

I found it ! When I first bought the truck I tapped into the drivers side tail light harness to power my custom tag lights. The wire inside the butt connector just came loose. It wasn't obvious until I removed all the electrical tape. Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[cucvrus]

Blue scotch block?

 

[Drock]

No one of those heat shrink butt connectors. I was able to slide the wire back in and crimp the heck out of it. Then melted it closed followed buy some liquid electrical tape. Hopefully that'll hold it. If not I'll just have to bite the bullet and solder it.

 

[the skull]

As I have discovered before, and I'm sure lots of us can attest to,
sometimes we are our own worst enemy. This especially applies to
electrical connections, even if we "say" it's a temporary or "test"
connection.

 

[m816Buch]

Scotch blocks are not good to use, they have a tendency to cut thru the wire over time causing a no connection....heat shrink splices are way better. Get the kind with the sealant, they work nice and make neat work

Buch