Brake Light / Running Light Issue

[Okie69]

Thanks for the responses Paul! I think you’re on the right track based on new information.

I found a piece of the rear harness where it looked like someone had tried to wire in trailer lights. It was a mess. Cleaned that up and it cleared up the ammeter jumping like crazy. So the new situation is this.

I have park all park lights! Fixed something.

Hazard switch does nothing (it at least did something before I started tearing into stuff)

Headlights and taillights in the headlight switch all the way out position work as well. These didn’t work before.

No brake lights.

No front driver turn signal at any time or any combination of different switch positions. This worked before I started pulling stuff apart.

I think my front turn signal problem is all linked to the yellow w/black wire but I still don’t see where it is supposed to go. The “left” side of that wire comes out of the two prong plug on the turn signal switch and goes out to the turn signal. I didn’t find any issues on that run.


The part where I’ve found the loose end discussed above comes out of that factory splice and I have no idea where it should go. My gut says headlight switch but I don’t see a spot for it. Like I said the front driver turn signal worked before I started messing with things so I’ve pulled that wire out of something I believe.

Too long didn’t read: No brake lights and no front left turn signal now.

 

[Okie69]

Any ideas out there?

 

[DirtDonk]

What about that 2-wire connector? Is it pushed together now? Got a good snap/click out of it?

Since the brake, turn and hazard flashers all work through the same wires from the back to front then if any of them works, then you know that wire is good.
But you should make certain that you can tell whether you’re seeing the bright or dim filaments lighting up.

And last for now, did you verify power coming in to and out of the brake switch?
I think you said you did, but I can’t remember.

 

[Okie69]

Oh man I just ran out there and checked because you made me doubt if that connector was plugged all the way in or not. It is plugged in all the way.

New symptoms though! Or they’re old symptoms that I’m just now noticing.

If I pull the headlight switch out to the park lights position all of the lights come on that are supposed to, but…the indicator lights in the gauge cluster light up and start pulsing. Not going out just getting slightly dimmer and then slightly brighter.

If I put on the left turn signal the headlights come on! They stay on once I turn the indicator off too.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yikes. This is now several levels up on the “electrical sucks” scale!

Not sure I’m up to the challenge from this distance. You have all sorts of things going on there.
Sounds like you are going to have to start almost from scratch. Dig in and triple check things you thought were already fixed.

And triple check your grounds!

 

[Okie69]

Haha well leave it to me to make it even worse. Thanks for the attempt.

 

[Okie69]

Fixed it!

It looks like it was a combination of two things.

First, I had the green and green/white wires swapped on the new turn signal switch. Corrected that and most things started working. I still had the weird issue of all three of the indicator lights (blinkers and high beam indicator) in the gauge cluster lighting up and pulsing with the headlights. I was troubleshooting this with the gauge cluster removed from the dash. I got to thinking about how those lights were grounded and….put the gauge cluster back in and everything cleared up.


For anyone that stumbles on this thread later with a similar problem it looks like the original issue was caused by the headlight switch. I plugged the old one in after everything was working just to see and sure enough the problems came back.

 

[DirtDonk]

Well that’s great news! Glad you took the time to recheck the old switch to.
Thanks for letting us know.