Inliners International Forums General Discussion Electrical No rear power to the lights

Just the other day I noticed that my rear lights weren't working. I checked all the connections and it was secure, but I noticed the wires on the old harness were britle and crumbling on me when I tried to make a new conection. This is a 68 C30 rack body so it is not the real lights, they are just two round lights. I have the wires right: brown - power, yellow for left side and green for right; no backup lights installed. All the other lights up front work, but there is no juice to the rear. Any ideas? thanks

I see 2 possible reasons. Either there is a break further forward along the harness as it runs along the frame, do the brake and directionals work ok? The other is at the headlight switch itself. Besides the headlight dimmer terminal and the dash lights terminal there are 2 other terminals that get powered when the switch is pulled out. One powers the front parking lights and may or may not stay powered when the switch is pulled all the way out for the headlights. The other terminal is for the tail lights and will definitely stay powered in either the parking light switch position or the head light switch position no matter what age the vehicle. Either work with a wiring digram and a volt / ohm meter or just the meter if you don't have a schematic and you should be able to prove out the condition of the switch. If you find the problem to be in the switch then replace it. Jumping across from one terminal to another might end up cross connecting 2 separately fused lighting circuits and give you something else to repair.

Mike

Two simple things to look at. Did you check the fuse box? Not sure on the one ton, but the pick-ups had a factory plug connector under the bed that would randomly come apart.

well what I did was I made a whole new wire harness myself and hooked it up to the part in the dash, checked the fuses, but still nothing. So I have all new wires running from the engine compartment along the frame out to the rear so it can't be anything like that or the fuse. I decided to take the advice of checking the switch and the front parking lights work, but no juice out back and when I pull the switch all the way out, the all the front lights and running lights come on, but still no juice to the rear. Can I have a little more info of what to look for in the switch? I have the guage cluster out so I can see in there easy, thanks.

Dear John;

Do you have power at the beginning of your new harness??

If so; There must be power at the end.

If so; You have the wrong lamp/bad one or no ground.

Good luck, John M......

Ditto John M and....polish the sockets, flip the bulb?

John, more or less there isn't much to do if the switch is bad except change it. I have disassembled the GM headlight switches to inspect and clean the slide contacts but found out this is usually a temporary fix at best so now I just replace the switch.

Mike

Check your ground at the light socket. Also check the spring in the socket. They stick sometimes, make sure its strong