Please help electrical problem

[austin]

i have a 1985 ford ranger 2.8l. i have rear brake lights, turn signals and reverse light but i have no rear running lights??? its not a bulb issue or a fuse. i replaced a corroded connector back by the bumper but it didnt fix the running ligt issue. any info??

 

[straycat]

So, you put known good bulbs in the tail lights to check, correct? There has to be a loose ground wire somewhere, Bro, or something is correded in the tail light area.

 

[whale]

i have a 1985 ford ranger 2.8l. i have rear brake lights, turn signals and reverse light but i have no rear running lights??? its not a bulb issue or a fuse. i replaced a corroded connector back by the bumper but it didnt fix the running ligt issue. any info??

Are you sure you have a double filament bulb back there?

 

[austin]

yes the bulbs are good, and i did switch the bulbs with known good bulbs and the problem still occured. the main big connector back by the bumper where 6 wires connect to four in the other connector were open and corroded so i replaced all of those and it didnt fix anything...

 

[Legend]

I haven't found a good detailed wiring diagram but here are some things to check:
Do the license plate light(s) light?
Do the tail lights work with either parking or headlights on?
Do the front parking lights work?
The wire color for tail lights is brown. Have you checked it for +12v at the tail light socket? At the fuse box? At the light switch?

 

[austin]

i do have license plate lights, if i didnt have 12v at the tailight socket then i wouldnt have turn signals or brake lights correct. could the turn signal switch be something to test?

 

[Legend]

+12v is supplied to the brake lights from the switch on the brake pedal (master cylinder).
+12v is supplied to the turn signals from the turn signal blinker to either the left or right brake light
+12v is supplied to both turn signals from the emergency flasher blinker
+12v is supplied to both running tail lights and the license plate light(s) from the light switch (parking light or headlight positions)

So... if you have license plate light(s) that are turning on with the light switch, then the break is between the license plate light(s) and the tail lights. That should narrow the problem down a lot. It should be a brown wire that supplies +12v to the license plate light(s) and on to the tail lights (according to Autozone's schematic). I would open up the license plate light fixture(s) and check for the break inside it, if you have +12v going into the fixture, but don't have +12v going into the tail lamp fixture.

If you do happen to have 2 license plate lights and 1 works and 1 doesn't, the break could be at either fixture.

 

[killj0y]

I can probably look up the diagrams on my alldata but i need all the relavant info along with email lol.

 

[killj0y]

pmed of course!

 

[austin]

okay ill check there, i know the license plate lights are both working, but once i get off work ill follow that brown wire and hopefully find a problem. thanks for all the help

 

[Legend]

So Austin.... Did you get the tail lights on? If so, what was the problem?