Here is my issue now.....I had the box off for a rust free replacement in the past week. Before removing, all the running lights were working fine. My Truck is a 2000 and naturally over time here in MN, the plastics clips on the wiring harness for the rear tail/running lights were a little brittle, and now are broken to where they don't "snap" together.....That being said, I have not taped them as of yet so they could be a little loose....

I got the replacement box put on last night, it is a 2005 with its factory wiring harness still in it. Plugs are identical to the ones I separated from the old box, and match up to the wiring harness still mounted to the frame on my truck.

....with the key in the off position, when I push in the brake pedal, my radio comes on along with the dash lights. brake lights illuminate.

....with the truck running, headlights in the off position, push in the brake pedal and the brake lights illuminate, along with the PARKING lamps.

.....with the headlight switch in the parking lamp position, the push in the brake pedal and brake lights are dim, but brighter than the running lamps.

....Headlight switch in the full on position....everything works just fine....


...and for those of you who offered advice on my muffler situation last week.....THE WALKER BTM IS NICE! great subdued sound with a little more whistle....

MIKE IN SUNNY MN:

 

Box? Please clarify.

 

Truck box = pickup bed. And it sure does sound like a ground problem. Follow the harness near the rear of the truck and I'm guessing there's a wire that should be bolted to the frame somewhere. They don't usually run ground wires very far. And if it's grounded to the bed, then the bed may not be grounded to the frame very well. Of course there's a chance that the 05 "appears" the same but the wires are in different pin positions.

 

I've removed 3 beds off of trucks in the past year, all Fords. Only one was a diesel. There were no ground wires between frame and bed on any of them. Any chance you bent done pins in the connections at the back? The radio is a little weird though...

 

Ahhhhh, yes......BOX=TRUCK BED.....as opposed to fuse box....air box.....glove box and all the other square removable objects with a boxed tag......sorry.....MIDWEST LINGO....

I will trace the wires...I put a good coating of plasti dip on the frame....seems to hold up really well in the climate here along with the salt and sand.....that could be my issue right there for the ground. Thanks....refer to head beating as above.

MIKE

 

Did the new box include LED tail lights?

 

anything is a possibility at this point in time.......and yes.....radio is quite strange.

 

Nope, stock tail lights...

 

This sounds like one of those things where you need to grab a wiring diagram and verify the color codes on everything. This might mean you need diagrams for a 2000 box and a 2005 box. I believe you are back-feeding power to one of the outputs on the CJB.

 

Pull fuse 2.5 (20 A) from your Central Junction Box (by your left foot) and see what that does.

 

I think last year or so one of the other members ran into an issue with the wires being in different places in the connector even though the connector was the same. I think he ended up using the harness off of his old bed. I am not 100 percent sure of this but just seems familiar.

 

PULLED THE FUSE, NO DASH LIGHTS OR RADIO CAME ON ....... checked the wiring harness.....all the wires are the same color in the same pattern as the one off the old bed........but I guess they still could be going to something different.....either way....I am stumped...

 

I should clarify.....the radio doesn't come on, it's just part of the dash lights....so no music, just the clock.

I guess, when I push on the brake pedal, with no key in the ignition and the headlight switch in the "OFF" position, it is making my truck thing I just turned the headlight switch to the parking lamp position????

 

That fuse feeds power to the rear full-time. You have something in the box that's wired differently than the old box, and it's feeding power backwards to the cab. Unplug one connection at a time with the radio on (so you can hear it). Silence will tell you which connecter needs the focus.

 

You are most likely missing a ground somewhere in the pickup bed lighting circuit or have a shorted brake light bulb. Here's what I think might be happening:

The tail and brake light bulbs in many vehicles are a single bulb with two fillaments, a dim one for tail lights and a bright one for brake lights. These two fillaments share a common ground connection. If everything is operating correctly, current from either the tail or brake circuits illuminates the corresponding fillament and returns through ground. However, if the ground is open, or if there is an internal short in the light bulb, current from the brake circuit flows through the bright fillament (which has a relatively low resistance) and back through the tail light fillament. Although the voltage fed back through the tail light circuit won't be 12V, it will probably be high enough to illuminate your radio display, and possibly do a few other strange things.

A quick check would be to remove the brake light bulbs from your new bed and see if the problem goes away.

Chris