Good evening!

I've always wanted to buy a proper Ford truck, and finally I've made it.
Anyhow, the dash and tail lights on my truck suddenly went out 2 weeks ago. I've checked all fuses and wires, all looks good, and just 10 minutes ago I also replaced the switch - but, as with the old switch, the light only turns on when I've pulled it between the first and second position (between park light and driving light). So I get my dash and tail light, but the driving light doesn't turn on until I fully extend the switch.

Have you ever heard about this before?

-Gabriel

 

Yes. You are missing power to the running light circuit, which also feeds the dash lights. The headlight switch has a couple of power feeds. One feed is for the headlights only. The other feed is for the running lights/tailights, and also for the dashlights indirectly. What you are doing is putting the switch in a mid position which is crossing up the contacts inside the switch, and the taillights are using the headlight power to light up.

First check the fuse. There is a separate fuse for the taillights/running lights. If the fuse is good and power is passing through it, then pull the headlight switch out again. Check for power on the tan/white wire. If the fuse is good, you should have power at all times on the tan/white. If you don't have power, follow it back up in the harness, it may be melted. If you do have power look at the plug in where the tan/white goes. See if it has been hot and is melted looking or burnt. If it is, you can go to the store and buy a new plug with pigtails that you can splice into the harness. This is a common problem, the reason they sell this plug for the headlight switch.

 

Thank you very much! I honestly tried to search for such an answer for quite some time, but I never found a thread stating a solution.
Again, thank you!)

By the way, you state there is a plug being used, but mine is connected with individual cable shoes. Maybe something the previous owner did...

 

This is what autozone sells for a 89. They say they keep it in stock. What does that tell you?

 

Precisely. You see, in Norway the amount of parts are extremely scarce, and there's a total of 30 of these trucks still on the road. 2 in my county, so information is not widespread, and Google is difficult to work with since it targets different things because of the location of the search.

 

Didn't know you were overseas. Just check it out and see if you have power on the tan/white. You should be able to fix it with what you have.

 

I just did exactly what you said, and it got fixed! Thank you very much for your help!

 

Instead of splicing, I try to pull the wire out of the old connector housing and push it into the new one. Every splice is a potential for shorts, bad connections, corrosion, and high resistance. Also, Look into doing the relay mod.
I hope Ford fired their electrical engineer for all the problems plagued by these trucks.