Well, I got a brand new wiring harness from Dennis Carpenter that goes from the firewall area, makes a stop off at the stoplight switch, and then goes to the taillights were I added the taillight crossover wire to install another light on the passenger side.

Long story short, my lights won't turn on. I'm hopeless when it comes to electrical stuff, and don't even own a test light. I'm thinking that the 6-volt 1154 bulbs supplied with the lights are just as cheap as they look.

One other concern I have though, the two wires coming out of the original harness are not insulated at all. I have since wrapped them with electrical tape. They seem to be connected still, but are incredibly feeble...does this matter?

I'm going to buy some bulbs and a test light after work and try again...but I was wondering if anyone else had additional input.

 

You probably don't have a good ground to the chassis. Check that. A layer of paint between the tail light housing and the bed post can be enough to break the circuit. That is usually the real problem with these simple electrical systems.

 

My guess would be that the two wires that have no insulation are ground wires. The biggest problem with the taillights on a pickup is grounding them properly. If you are using the bed as a ground source, make sure the bed is grounded to the chassis. Doing electrical work without a test light or a meter is like working in the dark. Test lights are cheap but pick up the best one you can find. Verify its operation prior to each use by connecting it to the battery to make sure it bulb is good. It is very frustrating to work on an elctrical problem for hours just to find that your test light is not working. (don't ask me how I know this) Check your shop manual electrical section and see if it lists the wire gage used in each circuit. Usually it will give the wire gage and the color code. Make sure that your wiring harness has the correct gage wires. Remember, grounding, grounding, grounding. Are you using a pos. ground system? Many new lights have only hot wires coming out of the light as it is internally grounded and uses the mounting bolts to ground the housing to the chassis. A jumper wire is very useful when working on electrical systems. Clip one end of the jumper wire to the light housing and the other end to a clean spot on your chassis to insure a positive ground. If it works with the jumper wire, then run an additional ground wire between the light housing and the chassis. Hope this helps. Keep us posted on your progress.

Gil

 

Um...I just kinda wired stuff up and set the taillights on the ground over where I could see them light up when I turned the light switch on...

I should've said my truck is a 6 volt, but someone switched it over to negative ground.

Sounds like my problem is the grounding aspect...heh.

Thanks for your help.

 

I have never quite understood the rationale for swapping a 6V pos ground over to a 6V neg ground except that someone just put the battery in backwards.

 

Putting the lites on the floor did you run a ground wire to them. The harness usually only have a hot, they firgure you will be connecting to the frame or body for a ground
Max E