Hey everyone. I found an old thread on here with electrical problems. it was an old one, but the responses and help were incredible. this looks like an awesome site.
I recently got a 99 f150. the brake lights do not work (blinkers and tail lights work fine) and the battery is draining. I do not know yet if the 2 issues are related. please bare with me on the lack of information, i just got the truck to the house last night.
I believe it is taking 2-3 days to drain down, but that is just what i was told, i have not verified that yet. I do know that when i picked it up, it was dead. When i got it home, i checked the obvious things.. dash lights staying on, glove box light, hood light etc. I didnt see anything on.
The only other thing i did last night was put a volt meter on the battery. I unhooked the negative battery lead and put a voltmeter on the negative post and the negative lead. it showed 22 volts on the neg and 24 on the pos (pos was still hooked up). I can work on the mechanics of the truck, but am fairly new to the electrical side. shouldnt there be 0 volts on the neg side??
thank you all in advance. I plan to do some digging on it this evening and really dive in tomorrow and saturday. My plan of action right now is to get the voltmeter on the disconnected neg side of the battery and start pulling fuses to see if i can isolate where the problem is. from my research, my suspicion is leaning towards the multi function switch.. possibly a wire came loose and is grounding out.. I will update as i go along. Thanks!

 

I believe i may have posted this in the wrong forum. sorry if that is so. I will repost in *Newer Light Duty trucks- 97-03 F150