Trailer lights....

[DonP]

Ok...

I need to get my trailer lights working this weekend before heading up to Manistee. I don't have running lights... I have brake lights... 4-way flasher lights... and turn signals.... but no regular running lights.

It has been traced to a problem in the truck wiring. I have a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 (please no Dodge vs. Chevy vs. Ford vs. "whatever" talk). By the information I have given you guys... what kind of "job" am I looking at to get my trailer running lights working?

Any and all suggestions/diagnostic hints will be accepted!! :D

[catfishhoge]

Don,

See if you can get a wireing diagram from your local dealer. Could be a fuse, broke wire or bad connection. Hard to tell with out knowing how the circut is set up.

Rick

[Busterboy]

Is the trailer wiring the "plug-in" style for the truck or is it tapped into the individual lines for lights?

If it the plug-in style, maybe it is defective, take it back and try another. If it is tapped into the wiring, maybe you should get the plug in style and save some headaches, the cost shouldn't be too great maybe $20-25.

Busterboy

[wally-eye]

Get a new plug. The one that goes into the truck. My 2003 Dodge goes thru one a year with same problem......around $16.00 or so at a Dodge dealer.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Could be a bad plug connection (socket or wiring) in back of the truck as well. Do you have the 4 pin flat or round socket type connector? Start looking for a signal back there and check each connection forward until you find the open connection. If it is a short there may also be a fuse blown, but that usually affects the truck lights as well.

[waterfoul]

If you get in a bind... you can simply tap into the tail light wire behind the light itself on the back of the truck with one of those cheap little clamp style connectors. While I don't recomend these as a permanent way to rig lights, this might be your saving grace when push comes to shove and you just have to leave.

Walley-eye... I can't believe you go thru so many plugs. Are you talking the round 7 pin? I've had the same one now for two trucks!! About 10 years or so!! Hmmm... maybe because I made my own from a kit....

[SalmonSlayer]

Helped DonP trouble shoot his lights....I had the same issue on my truck.

After a couple tests on my truck and trailer with his boat trailer and truck, we narrowed it down to his truck. Tested each wire for volts and found a couple "dead" ones in the connector. Untaped the harness and started up the wire harness with the tester...no dice!

On a whim... even though we double checked all the fuses in the fuse box (both inside the hood and inside the passanger compartment) I started tracing one of the "dead" wires up to the fuse box. I gambled and followed one seperate harness of a light blue wire and a red wire up to the fuse box. The blue one was not hooked up to anything and all corroded up...so I figured it wasn't that one. The red one went into another connector and then on to the hot wire of the fuse box. I opened up this small connector on the red wire....AND LO AND BEHOLD >>>> A BLOWN FUSE!!!!!!! 1 new 20 amp fuse inserted and all works just like new! :cool:

Of course then we had to retape all the wiring harness and install the plastic harness shields and harness holders onto the frame and blah blah blah... BUT the job is done!

:D

[bklompy]

small piece of advice use dielectric grease on the plug taps for your truck it helps fight corosion and keep connections clean

[baydog2]

If it is a short there may also be a fuse blown, but that usually affects the truck lights as well.
Thats what I thougth too this spring. Rushing to get ready for opener and no trailer lights but the truck lights all worked. I went and bought new harness and rewired no lights. Pulled fuse box cover under hood and 2 blown fuses with the initials TRL next to them. Sure kicked myself for not checking but I would have never thought seperate fuses.:banghead3 Now I will always check them first.

Lonnie