No rear lights...

[gcap48]

My son and I just purchased a 1967 F-100 and are planning to restore it as a father son project. My first issue is that there are no rear lights. No break lights, no taillights, no reverse lights and no blinkers/hazards. I have started troubleshooting by pulling the lenses and checking the bulbs, they are fine. I used a meter and am getting nothing at the socket. I traced the wiring back to the firewall and it seems intact. The front headlights and blinkers work so I am suspecting an issue with the turn signal switch and possibly a reverse switch. From what I have read online in the forums here the power for the rear lights goes through the turn signal switch and that is a common issue. I would like to see if there are any other troubleshooting steps I could try before I attempt to remove the steering wheel and start playing around with the TSS.

Thanks in advance

MyTruck.jpg

[cep62]

When working on old electrical issues I hook my test light / meter to a long jumper wire to the battery ground ,then you know it has a good connection.
If you still have no power check the connectors under the bed and work your way up ,
some where on this site there are wireing diagrams.

If you find power at the light but it still doesn't work clean ,or make ground wires.


I almost forgot
to the site.

[gcap48]

Cep62, thanks for the welcome and the helpful reply. I will definitely give that a try.

[tsherry]

First, How are your grounds on the rear part of the truck, and from the engine to frame, engine to body?

Second, under the bed, drivers' side, on or above the frame, there is a connector that the rear light harness hooks into. Did you check there to see if you have power? My '67 wiring looked fine, connectors were all plugged, in, but the corrosion killed the current trying to get through. That, and the fact that the ground wires were completely rotted away inside the fabric cover.

I would also look hard at the turn signal switch, but that should not have killed the lights, just the turn signals and brakes...I think.

[gcap48]

tsherry, thanks for the suggestions. I going to spend some time this Saturday going over all those points. I didn't really check the grounds last weekend, only a cursory look at the wire from the rear lights to look for breaks. You mentioned that there is a connector that the rear light harness hooks into, did you mean under the truck along the frame or under the dash? I downloaded all the wiring diagrams the other morning and plan to follow them to trace out everything. Which ground wires had rotted away on your truck? Any specific places to check first?

Thanks in advance.

[cep62]

I had corrosion in my the back of my fuse block once.
The fuse tested good but the power never connected to the circut.

Any specific places to check first

sometimes the socket for the bulb needs cleaning , the ground to the box.
The box grounds to the frame through the bolts if I remember correctly , if its rusty or freshly painted that can cause a problem.

But I think you have other issues ,because with a bad ground your brake lights will try to feed through your tail lights ,
and your parking and dash lights could come on.

[tsherry]

There is a connection point behind the LR wheel, on top of the frame, that should be a couple of separate connector blocks. Your wiring should be wrapped in that gnarly mesh fabric, with (as I recall) two connector blocks. The connector blocks are not covered, though. Look here: http://fordification.com/tech/wiring/wi ... ghts02.jpg at points P and R. Those connectors could be part of the problem. You can take those apart and test the current at that point. I cleaned out mine as good as I could hit them with dielectric grease, and reassembled them. I ran new ground wires, worked fine. On three of our cars, I had one light (almost always RR) that was more dim than the LR. Always it was a ground issue.

[gcap48]

Thanks for all the responses, I will check your suggestions out this Saturday and let you guys know if that fixes it.

Thanks again

[gcap48]

OK I just wanted to thank everyone again for all their help and close out the story on this little job.
So, this Saturday my son and I went out to troubleshoot the taillights, we had all our tools, the multi-meter and an assortment of wires and things to test for bad grounds, etc.
First thing we did was to remove the spare tire from underneath the truck so we could get up under the bed easier. As soon as we did that I found the wiring connector for the taillights and surprise surprise, it was DISCONNECTED!!! We inspected the connector and cleaned up the sockets and pins and then I plugged it back together. Once we did that ALL of our taillights started working perfectly again!

You guys all were very helpful and had lots of great suggestions. Thanks for all the help.

Now we can move onto the next item on the list.

[cep62]

I'm glad it was a simple fix.

Now we can move onto the next item on the list

Keep us posted.

[tsherry]

Easy fixes are the BEST KIND.