tail light anomaly - please read
Thread Starter
|
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 497
Likes: 0
From: KC MO
tail light anomaly - please read
Greetings all. I have a strange problem on my 85 F-150. It started when a friend (following me to Hooters last night) told me my brake lights were out. I assumed it was the switch on the pedal but was too dark to do anything. This morning, I noticed that the park lights didn't come on either as I was scraping ice off the windshield and letting it warm up. For grins I tried the hazard lights and turn signals, and amazingly they worked! So over lunch today I pulled every fuse, only to find they all looked fine. Any ideas? TIA,
Justin
85 F-150 300 / 4 spd. / 4X4
Justin
85 F-150 300 / 4 spd. / 4X4
Posting Guru
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,594
Likes: 0
From: Campbell River, BC Canada
tail light anomaly - please read
I was hooking up the wires for my trailer brakes on my 1985 F250 4x4 the other day and I had it all hooked up and all the lights were working on the truck and trailer when I tried the signals they didn't work, I then tried the Hazards and they didn't work either. I unplugged the truck and noticed that the brake lights weren't working on it and biether were the hazards. After freaking out I finally thought to check the fuse and thats what my problem was. If I were you I would get the manual out and check each fuse to make sure it was the correct size. If you had just boughten then truck maybe the person who had it before you just through a fuse in and it was too big. That happened to me and now my Horn doesn't work. If this is the case then maybe a wire is shorted out. Good Luck to you.
Canadian Ford Man
Canadian Ford Man
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,586
Likes: 0
From: Linwood, N.J. USA!
tail light anomaly - please read
Justin, It does sound like a strange problem. First thing to do is check the stop light fuse again. Sometimes it is very difficult to see the burnt part of the fuse. Then I would check the bulbs and see if both filaments are intact. If one is damaged and is hanging on the other, there can be a jump in current and make the bulb function sometimes and not function other times.
Does the truck have a trailer light tap cord on it? If it does, then I would suggest checking any splices and connections where it taps into the trucks wire harness. These connections can corrode after time. I would also double check the brake light switch. It seems strange that you had functional rear tail lights that night and then they did not work the following day.
You may want to try the flashers with the tail lights on and then try them again with the tailights off. You may even have a bad ground somewhere.
I have also seen the turnsignal switch make the brake lights malfunction on certain trucks. Just a thought. Good luck.
Jakegypsum // Ford fleet, soup to nuts.
Does the truck have a trailer light tap cord on it? If it does, then I would suggest checking any splices and connections where it taps into the trucks wire harness. These connections can corrode after time. I would also double check the brake light switch. It seems strange that you had functional rear tail lights that night and then they did not work the following day.
You may want to try the flashers with the tail lights on and then try them again with the tailights off. You may even have a bad ground somewhere.
I have also seen the turnsignal switch make the brake lights malfunction on certain trucks. Just a thought. Good luck.
Jakegypsum // Ford fleet, soup to nuts.
