I added LED lights to illuminate the running boards on my Lariat. Did this about 15 months ago and all was fine until this week and I noticed they weren't coming on any longer. Both sides are out of commission. The running board lights on each side are wired to the respective plug for the running board lights on each side. The interior lights that are on the same circuit work fine (fuse #12 in the passenger side fuse box).

So I'm scratching my head trying to figure out why both sides have gone out at the same time but the fuse is ok. It's winter here and my truck doesn't completely in the garage so I'm hoping to limit my time lying under the truck out in the cold, on a wet floor!

Does anyone have any ideas? I thought there might be another fuse in the engine compartment fuse box but there isn't, at least according to the manual.

 

Time for the multimeter, and checking for power. start tracing it back from where they plug in.

Sorry couldnt be more help. no magic bullets.

 

I'd start by looking for a wire hanging that might have ripped off from ice or snow...

 

That's kind of my thinking at this point as well. It's pretty wet and cold out but I did disconnect all the lights (running board, bed) and they all run fine when connected to another 12V source. There's no juice at the connectors on either side.

The wires seem to run up and over the exhaust somewhere, but it's too wet under there to start crawling around. I think this'll have to wait until spring. Too bad, this is the time of year when I really like the bed lights at the end of a night on the ski hill.

 

I had lighted diamond plate aluminum boards for years. They look great for about 6 months until they quit. I agree with blocks of ice hanging on wires. All wires have to be run in conduit tubing and fused. Wire tied every few inches.


Over all I have given up. Wires down there where crap is kicked up is HOPELESS.........

 

Ditto on tying the wires up as well as possible. I just added some LED lights to my running boards, you can read about it here at the bottom of the page you're interested. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ime-out-4.html On my wiring I ran the wire in some wire loom and made a bracket I could bolt to an existing bolt that came through the floor to zip tie the wire to, I think this bolt is one of the rear seat mounting bolts, there was enough threads left to add the bracket and a nut to secure it. Here's a photo of how it looks. There's no guarantee that ice couldn't still build up on this, but its as close to the body of the truck as I could get it without drilling holes, and it's much better than letting the wire hang loose.

 

Thanks guys. Now you're making me curious about getting under there in the snow and wet and taking a look to see if there is ice or snow in there causing the problem. OTOH our temps are going above freezing for the next few days so maybe the power will come back!