license plate light

[evolutioneng]

Trying to light the license plate up. will not turn light on? their are three plugs i can make contact with.some odd reason its not lighting up. need help? where can i make my own wire from?

[HIO Silver]

Have you checked for voltage?
Cleaned the contacts and checked the bulbs?

[basketcase0302]

If your parking lights are working back there, (tan wire) it will usually be a ground issue with the bumper itself. Suggest running a ground from the rear of the frame rail and tighten it under a bumper bolt.

[evolutioneng]

im using a 1156 bulb. the socket only has one wire running off of it.

[basketcase0302]

evolutioneng on Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:17 am
im using a 1156 bulb. the socket only has one wire running off of it.

The socket grounds to the hole in the bumper when you snap it into the hole. Do you have a volt meter or test light to test for power to the socket? And I believe the 1156 is too big for the license lamp?

[evolutioneng]

what bulb should it take.i believe the 1156 is to big also., i do have the meter.what should it be reading.the door light switch does not work.should i replace that maybe its shorting out from the switches?

[wildcard]

I looked at mine and the bulb # is worn off. But the glass portion is barely larger than the metal portion. It's short and squatty.
As stated before,the single wire should tie into the brown, or tan, wire which is your taillights. The housing that the bulb socket goes into is the ground. Make sure it has a clean contact with the bumper. And the socket has a good clean contact with the housing.
Your voltage reading should be in the neighborhood of 12 volts.
So with all that and a good bulb you should make it.

[basketcase0302]

evolutioneng on Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:53 pm
Trying to light the license plate up. will not turn light on? their are three plugs i can make contact with.some odd reason its not lighting up. need help? where can i make my own wire from?

From your first post I thought you were working on the license plate light?
And yes there should be anywhere from 11.5 to 12.5 volts to the center pole of the light socket on the license plate light. There's a bulb chart here somewhere, but I can never seem to be able to find it.
Here's the courtesy light, (inside light) schematic:
http://www.fordification.com/tech/wirin ... ylight.jpg
Most the time the inside lights have issues with the small pins on the harness that plugs into the switch itself. Try running a continuity test on the switch first though-then check for power to the switch.

[evolutioneng]

i going to get the power from the left tail light .i see the brown wire that runs to the engine bay but when i plug it in and install the license plate housing nothing happens.going to check it out today...

[evolutioneng]

i picked up the right light bulb for the license plate.do i need the key for it to work? the brown wire runs under the frame then up to the cab?

[evolutioneng]

i mean the bed.

[basketcase0302]

evolutioneng on Thu Dec 06, 2012 10:04 am
i picked up the right light bulb for the license plate.do i need the key for it to work? the brown wire runs under the frame then up to the cab?

No the ignition switch, (key) doesn't have to be turned on for the license plate light to work. The license plate light should work when the headlight switch is in either the parking, (running) lights on-or headlight on position.

[evolutioneng]

i bought some flashers today.inside the turn signals blink but outside the left side stays on. still no luck with license plate light

[basketcase0302]

evolutioneng on Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:25 pm
i bought some flashers today.inside the turn signals blink but outside the left side stays on. still no luck with license plate light

A multi-meter or test light will be your friend here! Here's a cheap 12 volt test light that will become your favorite tool once used a few times!
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp ... t=22981505
And here's what your testing will look like:

This really sounds like a ground issue once you described above that you've tried tapping into the left , (tan/brown) rear parking light wire. The light socket has to be grounded good, (if you holding it away from the bumper it won't work, (when the parking lights are turned on-try holding the metal of the socket against the bumper metal. The turn signals will be a totally different issue but could also be ground related. I'd start there with pulling all four turn signal lenses and look closely, (much better to read with a multi-meter) all the bulbs. It's typical of our trucks to stop flashing the signals when a bulb or two goes out.
How bad is the rust on the truck? Check the following grounds:
1) battery negative to engine block (main ground cable)
2) engine bay firewall to engine intake manifold (it's a ground strap but you can run wire to make a new one easily)
3) DS front frame rail to radiator support (same thing it was a strap when new but you can run a wire here)
4) the rear bed area I'm not sure but I ran a dedicated ground on my truck to alleviate issues. Easily done by grounding the rear frame rail to the bed or preferably bumper area).

Let us know if this helps.

[evolutioneng]

i got the front turn sigal to work.replaced the flashers .my rear blinker wont work/?? maybe i just need to spend the two dollars and get the tester