Tail light help !!!

[81squared]

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Ok … so, before I started fixing up my wiring mess all my tail lights worked. Since then I started going through the wiring in the truck and there was 3 splices in the tail light harness, I decided to cut out almost all the wire goikg from the firewall harness to the plug in the back. I color coded the wires and created a new harness. All the sockets were corroded in the taillight housings so I replaced them as well. I made all new ground points and grounded all the grounds to the body that were coming off the new sockets. All the wires were basically the same color on the new and old wires so I connected everything the way it was. When the headlights are on I have nothing in the back, when I use the blinker only one lit up. It didn’t blink tho, so I started pulling the wires apart in the back of the truck.

I want to replace a lot of this stuff. It’s old and brittle. There seems to be this heavier gauge brownish coke wire running to all the sockets and possibly the old license plate light.

Can anyone help me out here.

My buddy is coming over this weekend to help me out with a few things. This being one. I was hoping to have some insight into what we are looking at.

Thanks

 

[Ellie Niner]

Those crimp connectors aren't going to work very well in the long run if you'll be driving where they'll get wet... they can be made just passable by cramming the splices with dielectric grease.

First, I would double check to make sure you've got the right wires to the right places, and connected to the right filaments on the bulbs.

Brown is for tail, side marker, and license plate lights- dim filament on bulb.
Yellow is left turn/brake light- bright filament.
Dark green is right turn/brake light- bright filament
Light green is reverse.
Black is ground.

 

[81squared]

I wanted to cut all that out and rewire the back wires. I don’t like the old crimp connectors and the green wire is breaking.

Good info. Thanks

 

[Corvette Ed]

X2 on the butt splices (crimp connectors) ,use solder and heat shrink.

 

[hoagster]

Here is the wiring diagram for the Rear lights. This may help you understand why the all the wires look the same at the end.

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[81squared]

thanks for the wiring diagram, I just ordered all new color correct wire Im going to re wire everything.

everything makes sense now, hope it works when Im done !!

thanks again

 

[Ellie Niner]

thanks for the wiring diagram, I just ordered all new color correct wire Im going to re wire everything.

everything makes sense now, hope it works when Im done !!

thanks again

Just sift through it methodically, and everything will come together fine. If it seems a bit overwhelming, just start with the brake/turn signals- each one only needs a hot and a ground, and each wire only feeds one bulb. Same for reverse lights, except there's two bulbs. Once you have those three circuits up and running, then wire up the 5 or 6 bulbs on the tail light circuit, and if anything goes awry, you can easily back up and see what's amiss.

 

[Raider L]

@81squared,

Yeah, somebody put themselves in a boat trailer plug and wires with those blue splice things. I hate those things. Yes, @Ellie Niner is right. That's what I did when I rewired a lot of my truck and that is solder all splices and put heat shrink on it. Water proof, dirt proof, and hopefully corrosion resistant. I even went a step further and with every terminal end I crimped I also soldered it to.
If you're not very good at soldering, get some wire and practice, practice until you build up your confidence. Try connecting the wires in different ways and run solder over them until you can find way of putting the wires together that leaves the smallest bump of solder when you're done, the smallest connection using the least amount of wire from both ends, the least amount of solder but a firm joint, no cold joints. Get a least a 25watt soldering gun or higher, but not to high, i.e. hot. Nothing like a 100 watt gun, it puts to much heat into the wiring and melts the insulation further up from the joint that could cause a short.

 

[AuroraGirl]

@81squared,

Yeah, somebody put themselves in a boat trailer plug and wires with those blue splice things. I hate those things. Yes, @Ellie Niner is right. That's what I did when I rewired a lot of my truck and that is solder all splices and put heat shrink on it. Water proof, dirt proof, and hopefully corrosion resistant. I even went a step further and with every terminal end I crimped I also soldered it to.
If you're not very good at soldering, get some wire and practice, practice until you build up your confidence. Try connecting the wires in different ways and run solder over them until you can find way of putting the wires together that leaves the smallest bump of solder when you're done, the smallest connection using the least amount of wire from both ends, the least amount of solder but a firm joint, no cold joints. Get a least a 25watt soldering gun or higher, but not to high, i.e. hot. Nothing like a 100 watt gun, it puts to much heat into the wiring and melts the insulation further up from the joint that could cause a short.

in my situation I used the a spare harness which was also hacked up from trailer.... anyway, it had the license plate lamp long gone and no connector, just like what my truck has so i figured i would use that since it had no connector. I Dont remember how many wires are present but my 1990 olds is parts car and I have weather pack or metripak connector bodies in great shape on their and would maybe get new seals etc.. but I dont know if I want to because the wiring is fondled Up frame by the gas tank with a literal unknown amount of ****** because my headache rack and the small lights wired on the things and bumper were tapped into with tape and.. mostly tape but some butt splices that are not sealed or crimped with much care. So a non factory connector would be dumb if I ever want to use it on other truck or replace the harness that goes back. so i used push in house connectors for small wires and secured them nicely for each circuit and took the tension off the connection by wrapping the wie into a loop, securing the loop to itself before them, and sealing them with liquid tape. its not a fix i would be proud of on a daily, but its also un-do-able so i would only have to peel the liquid **** and prepare wire for connector, terminal, etc... if I stick with using a square bed for garbage trailer, i considered using the harness for that and just fixing the bedside I cant put a tail lamp on, then its lower effort but not critical everyday. basically, fixed the no rear lighting with room for future use somehow. the bulb connector end of things are all good minus a foam seal for the 194 side markers. and a trailer 4 way flat is wired on. but there isnt a wire for the license lamp so I would have to fix that if a plate was involved needing light.

 

[59840Surfer]

About soldering wires ....

Modern solder will "work harden" and becomes brittle with engine and road vibrations.

After a time, the joint becomes just physical as the wires are usually twisted before soldering - if not, they fall apart and create a lot of resistance --- and resistance means heat.

The result? Dim lights, slower motors (blowers and window regulators especially) and bad grounds all over the place.

Since NASA accepts the crimp-butt splices in their spacecraft, I have been using them since I worked on cryogenic charging stations for them - liquid oxygen and other cryogenic gasses electrical circuits.

These weren't the cheap PVC covered aluminum crush sleeve types. They are the heat shrinkable, loaded with thermoglue and white copper crush sleeves.

Install them correctly and they can support more tension than the original wire itself and they are sealed against all the elements and cannot corrode nor become resistive.

.... just saying ......

 

[Ellie Niner]

About soldering wires ....

Modern solder will "work harden" and becomes brittle with engine and road vibrations.

After a time, the joint becomes just physical as the wires are usually twisted before soldering - if not, they fall apart and create a lot of resistance --- and resistance means heat.

The result? Dim lights, slower motors (blowers and window regulators especially) and bad grounds all over the place.

Since NASA accepts the crimp-butt splices in their spacecraft, I have been using them since I worked on cryogenic charging stations for them - liquid oxygen and other cryogenic gasses electrical circuits.

These weren't the cheap PVC covered aluminum crush sleeve types. They are the heat shrinkable, loaded with thermoglue and white copper crush sleeves.

Install them correctly and they can support more tension than the original wire itself and they are sealed against all the elements and cannot corrode nor become resistive.

.... just saying ......

I've always used the solder and shrink tube (always avoided the sh¡tty RoHS solder, though), but have been looking at better quality crimp terminations lately... There's a huge difference between what you can readily pick up at an auto parts store, and what's used in industry- especially aerospace. The former is pure garbage, and we won't even mention the Scotchlok.

FWIW- I've only had one solder joint fail so far, but would like to have some other solutions in my toolbox as well

 

[hoagster]

thanks for the wiring diagram, I just ordered all new color correct wire Im going to re wire everything.

everything makes sense now, hope it works when Im done !!

thanks again

The ground can take all of the lights out, or if any of those 3 splices are grounded stuff will not work. Make sure all of your bulbs are good! The housings for the lamps are good. It's only 4 wires fix it.

 

[Raider L]

I haven't ever used those butt splices. If I'm going to splice two wires I really do splice them by soldering them to gether and with a piece of shringk wrap on the wire I then apply it to the soldered joint. Nothing to come loose. I've had my head stuffed under the dash and had to weedle the soldering iron up through the wires until it was where I needed to be and barely got it done. But that's what it took. I'll go to extreme to solder wires, with no of those vinyl covered connections. I don't know much about electricity to begin with and so I make sure I don't have electrical problems because I won't know what to do. I know it will happen out in the middle of nowhere...at night. So I drive right on past that place and it feels good.

 

[AuroraGirl]

About soldering wires ....

Modern solder will "work harden" and becomes brittle with engine and road vibrations.

After a time, the joint becomes just physical as the wires are usually twisted before soldering - if not, they fall apart and create a lot of resistance --- and resistance means heat.

The result? Dim lights, slower motors (blowers and window regulators especially) and bad grounds all over the place.

Since NASA accepts the crimp-butt splices in their spacecraft, I have been using them since I worked on cryogenic charging stations for them - liquid oxygen and other cryogenic gasses electrical circuits.

These weren't the cheap PVC covered aluminum crush sleeve types. They are the heat shrinkable, loaded with thermoglue and white copper crush sleeves.

Install them correctly and they can support more tension than the original wire itself and they are sealed against all the elements and cannot corrode nor become resistive.

.... just saying ......

didnt we learn the nasty lesson of solder BECAUSE of NASA in the early days? IN terms of, critical failure because solder made a brittle/failure point that then.. er.. failed? I dont know if it was like a big one where astronauts died thing but I recalled reading about it somewhere.

I haven't ever used those butt splices. If I'm going to splice two wires I really do splice them by soldering them to gether and with a piece of shringk wrap on the wire I then apply it to the soldered joint. Nothing to come loose. I've had my head stuffed under the dash and had to weedle the soldering iron up through the wires until it was where I needed to be and barely got it done. But that's what it took. I'll go to extreme to solder wires, with no of those vinyl covered connections. I don't know much about electricity to begin with and so I make sure I don't have electrical problems because I won't know what to do. I know it will happen out in the middle of nowhere...at night. So I drive right on past that place and it feels good.

the problem with me is no matter how hard i practice I always end up soldering something and then realizing I need to put shrink tube on it

im not a fan of those splices we buy in the local stores for sure but what surfer said is very true about quality ones

 

[Grit dog]

So now the gold standard for splicing wires or making connections is no good? Y’all crack me up!
I need to go tell all the soldered connections I’ve made on stuff in the last decade or so that they’re batting above their average and it’s time for them to come apart!