Lights, That'd be my problem at the moment.

First thing, i can get my left light on the bumper license plate to work. I believe i have the right wire that connects to it, but its not working. I've tinkered with it for about 1/2 today and im just unsure whats wrong. Any help would be great.

My other problem is... Last year i got a boat. An as im getting it ready, my basic last thing for it is to get the trailer lights working. The previous owner of my truck had spliced into all the wires from rear lights for the trail light hookup. But its not working. Any help in direction on what needs to be hooked to what for this would be great!

What color wires goes to what, what needs to be spliced in for the trailer hookup.

Thanks alot yall.

 

Those hacked in trailer light wires might be your problem with the license lights.My truck was the same way,except all my wires had been cut for no real reason.I had to entirely put in an entire new license light socket.Eventually due to all the cut wires I just swapped to another non molested harness.

The license plate light sockets should have a brown and a black wire.If you don't have both of these,there's your problem.Black is ground,brown is your power.

I'm not sure of the trailer light wiring as i've never done it before.

 

Are you sure the bulb is not burned out?

Do you actually have a wired plug for trailer lights? If so what have you done to check it? Get some good contact cleaner and spray down the plug and clean out all the contacts with something. Then use a test light to start testing the posts and don't forget to test the ground. 9 out of 10 times trailer light problems come down to bad grounds.


If you dont have a plug I'm sure someone can tell you the wires to start spicing into, I'm not sure if you can still find a trailer wiring kit for our trucks.

 

Hoppy still lists the plug in 4-wire flat wiring kit for the 80-86's. I'm sure other manufacturers do too. May be best off to remove whatever has been hacked in and go that way.

 

Amazon.com: Hopkins Plug-In Simple 40115 T Connector Wiring Kit For Ford Pickups (All Sizes & Bronco) '80-86: Automotive

 

I'd imagine that the trailer wire hack job is the reasoning for the other license plate light to not work.

Yes the bulbs are brand new, just put in new ones to make sure they were good yesterday.

Okay, now you mentioned that it should have a black and brown wire. Okay so the one bulb that does work does... But the black wire is not being used yet the light still works.. The other bulb that doesnt work has only the black wire. Now would i be able to splice in the one that doesnt work into the other two wires?

Now, the trailer lights. Yes, this is just a the standard 4 prong trailer light hookup. But all the wires are spliced into each of the lights to the rear of the truck. Now i feel that the original owner had this working at some time as it all seems fairly close. But i just need to know what wires are what, and what i need to have spliced in.

Any idea what the white wire that goes to the 4 prong plug does? Its currently ripped out of the plug.

 

I would rewire the tail lights like they are supposed to be then buy a plug in wiring harness plug. The brown is for tail, lisence and side marker lights, yellow is for left hand stop and turn signal lights, green is for right hand stop and turn signal lights and white is ground.

 

Electrical is one of my pet peeves ... I hate electrical gremlins, Especially on the road and thats where they always happen and it's usually -30 and blowing!

Something that is so avoidable with a little effort, Do it right!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

On the standard flat 4 wire trailer setup the wires go as follows

White: Ground
Brown: Tail lights
Yellow/green: turn

You should check each of these wires to ensure good contact at the harness and where it is hooked to the trucks wireing. if each has a good contact then you should get a voltage tester and make sure that each to ensure that they are doing what they are supposed to. As far as the wire thats loose at the connector (white), you should probally just get a new connector, and if your up to it, then get your trailer lights also. You can get these both as a set at your local Walmart for like $25 or so. They are simple enough to install.
When i did this on my F150 I put in a 7 wire attachment, mainly so id be able to wire in the rear hi mounts, brakes, and marker lights on my trailer to work. otherwise your 4 wire is the same. You will have to remove both tail lights (4 phillips head screws each), and look at the wires closely. You will have three wires to the top light (brake, turn, tail), if yours are like mine, then they will be covered in 29 years of gunk. you will have to use somethin to clean this off. Once you finish that, you will need to look for what wires are on each side. one will be black, this is your ground. brown is tail and stop (brake), and the other is turn (different color on each side).
Once you figure this all out and attach it, you just put the tail lights back on and test them with your trailer to make sure they work.

 

Thanks yall. When this daggum rain gets over with i plan on workin on this! Thanks.