Hey... This is my first post. Found this great site on google and thought I'd ask you experts.

Short question: When I have my turn signal and brakes on at the same time all my external lights flash fast like I have a burnt out bulb or wiring fault but all turn signals and brake lights work independantly. Anyone know what causes this?

Long Description: I have an 08 Super Duty and and my tail light plug got smashed from all the gravel roads I drive on. This is the plug underneath for all the tail lights but not the trailer lights and brakes.

This is the second time it's happened. Luckily the first time it was under warranty but now I'm off warranty and went to go see the cost of just the plugs but apparently you have to buy the whole wiring harness which is over $350 dollars up here.

One of my turn signals wasn't getting a good connection because the plugs were smashed and I had pushed the pins into the sockets manually to try to make a connection. It would eventually wiggle out no matter had much tape I used to hold it together. I knew the one turn signal wasn't working because clicker would start going faster than usual. Today it started clicking fast when I had the brake on and tried to turn in either direction. I climbed underneath and broke off one of the pins trying to push it together. So I decided to just cut the plugs off and splice all the wires together.

Now everything is working independantly but when I try to use the brakes and turn signal together both of my signals flash in a faster than normal clicking.

It sounds like a short but I have all the wires individually attached and taped so there no short at the plug end and I don't want to rip all the wiring out to find a short if theres and easy fix.

Any Idea?

 

Does it do it with out the trailer connected??? That will isolate the problem , and in which unit.

If you dont have a trailer connected, then it is a wire hitting a ground or short... It might even be a lightbulb filiment touching another inside the bulb... Gotta be somethin stupid... I'd let the dealer figure it out.

Good luck

 

No trailer connected... but the socket and trailer wires are beat to s*&$ as well.

Dealer will prob just order the $350 wiring harness and spend 5 hours trouble shooting the problem and cost me an arm and a leg. I have 140,000 kilometers on it so no more warranty on electrical just power train.

 

Mustang convinced me to go have another look for ground faults and bad bulbs...

I took the whole works apart and the connected each wire with the blinker going until i found the one that was the problem. There are 2 grey wires and if they're crossed that's what causes this.

I was sure I had wired it correctly because I attached each wire as I cut it off the plug but I somehow got the two grey wires reversed. What's really weird is it was doing this before I tampered with it at all. Must have been shorting in the plug as well.

One is for the turn signal and the other is for the reverse lights I assume.

Hope my public display of buffoonery helps someone else.

 

Something happens when it is your vehicle down. Like tunnel vision. It is strange but it happens, then you fall in love all over when things are smooth