New electrical issue :(

[99f250]

Okay today I took out Orange Crush and was informed by the car behind me I had no tail lights.

Pulled over to check and no tail lights/brake lights.

blinkers work, flashers work but no night lights or brake lights. Front headlights are working though.

Viper sent me a wiring diagram but it's on my laptop at work right now.

Could this also be a fuse?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Jeff

[hockeydad4-22]

No help from me, just suport. I too have had my fill of elictricial issues. THought we had the Dash all taken care of, but now the fuel gage does not work. Our solution for now - fill er up ever 200 miles, on the even hundreds.

Will probably try to run a jumper from the sending unit to the gage next but the last thing I want to do is tear the harnes apart again....

I hear you, electrial issues are the biggest pain in the ass.

[99f250]

Well I put new turn signal switch in finally thinking this might be related but no joy. That was fun ing the wires down the column and don't ever want to do that again. I changed the fuse for the stop lamps but according to the diagram I found F-5 is for emergency warning & stop lamps and the emergency flashers are working.

Also noticed tonight that I have no lights for the gauges now either.

Any ideas how/what wires to check for brake lights and tail lights under the dash? I'd assume the wires going to the actual light are okay since the blinkers and flashers work or is this wrong?

Any help would be appreciated as I have to get this going again as school starts on Monday for the kid.

[akaFrankCastle]

Wish I could help ya. Viper is pretty much to wiring guru around here.

I'd check grounds, brake light switch, and possibly that resistor on the back of the gauge cluster for the lack of dash lights.

[Kinder]

I'm pretty sure Viper will have your answer, PM him then post up the "real" answer. I'd also check the light switch, I'm pretty sure both the dash lights and tail lights run through there. I'm replacing mine (the zone has them cheap), since every time I accidentally turn the knob I blow the fuse to my dash lights, the spring on the back is shot.

Just re-read your first post, since your brake lights are out as well replace the small switch on the brake pedal (again cheap at the zone), but I believe that isn't going to solve your problem since my tail lights worked, but brake lights didn't and the switch only fixed that one issue.

[777mechanic]

viper is in cali til jan6 then will be driving back , he's going to try to drive the old pony express trail in the bronco .

[Kinder]

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showth ... tail+light

Here is a post on CB.com w/Viper giving suggestions to someone w/similar issues, looks like some good advice.

[hockeydad4-22]

As far as the instrument Cluster, I have had that out and back in 4 times in the last 2 weeks. I have learned this - it is pretty easy to knock alight out of its socket and when you do this, it is not grounded and will not work. THere are what seems to be fortyeleven bulbs and while you were running the wires down the colum you may have knocked one of the bulbs out. I know, I know, I would not think it is all that easy, but yes it is.... I have done it myself a number of times.

[99f250]

Thanks guys for the advice. I'll check those things out tomorrow and see where it leads me. I didn't realize autozone would carry light switches as well as brake signal switches so it's good to know.

I'll let you know what the outcome is.

Many thanks and Happy New Year to you all!

[99f250]

wanted to post what the problem was. All of it, brake lights, rear night lights, and gauge cluster lights were all related to a bad light switch. Picked up a new one at Checker, threw it in and all's working!

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. They were dead on.

Now I just have to get some new hubs for the 4x4 and she'll be 100% working again :)

[Viperwolf1]

Bad headlight switch. Brake light power comes from the headlight switch. So does tail light power. Turn signals and hazards are completely separate circuits.

[99f250]

Well my wiring woe's haven't ended :(

Now my son just told me the driver side night driving light is out. Brake, blinker, and hazard work just not the left tail light. Could my headlight switch have gone bad already?

swapped bulbs and checked voltage. Not getting voltage at the bulb :(

[airbur]

Time for a new wiring harness! Just kidding.....one of the gurus on here should be able to figure that one out.

[99f250]

Okay traced the wire to left tail light. The "wonderful" way the guy before me tapped his trailer harness in was the problem. Going to take out trailer harness and fix it right.
Tired of these little wiring things.

[akaFrankCastle]

Keeper Broncos = New wiring harness. 30-40 year old wiring isn't a matter of if it will go bad, but when.

I'm wanting to do a new harness in the summer, when the days are longer and temps warmer (better for laying out the harness). Maybe we could get a mass buy going?

[Justin]

I'm nearing the end of my Centech install and would encourage folks to do it. I've been surprised at how easy it is. If I were going to do it again I might have gone with the Painless kit, as the instructions are better. That said, it isn't loomed and it is something like $200 more.

[99f250]

Most of the wires are good on this thing other than the "tap" points for things under the dash and for a trailer harness. It's very clean, but like you said, nothing lasts forever