Hello. I have a 1985 ford ranger (bought it new, 248K miles, pretty good truck).

My taillights and brake lights just quit. Left or right turn signal flashes both rear lamps at the same time (one filament on the upper bulb at the same time (weakly it seems to me). The front turn signals work correctly and the front parking lamps do too. The emergency flashers work also (flash front and rear).

I replaced rear bulbs (all 4 though it looked like only lower bulb was bad)), and checked 3 fuses and the turn signal flasher, and they all are ok. I cleaned up the rear bulb sockets they seem ok also.

Before I started troubleshooting, following wires, and trying to puzzle out circuit diagrams (I'm not too good at any of these) , I wondered if anyone recognized symptoms or could suggest efficient troubleshooting steps.

Thanks for any help.
texas_ranger in Maine

 

(got some help on the electrical/wiring forum, thanks)

It turned out it was a broken connector back near the lamps packed full of ice and road salt, must've been shorting the turn signal wires to each other and may have just left the taillight and brake lamp circuits open. A back-up light wire was broken also. Some cleaning, solder, heat shrink, dieletric grease, and electrical tape seems to have done the trick.

 

Glad to hear you found the problem.