1985 b-150 van taillight help

[vanfromhell]

hi, can any of you guys tell me what fuse in glovebox is for taillights. they are numbered and dont have owners manual. i have blinkers and brake,backup lights but no tailights. no power at tailamp, i am guessing power comes from headlight switch to fuse to tailight ? so wiring problem or headlight switch are my thoughts? thanks alot!

[alloro]

Do your front parking lights work?
Do your side marker lights work? (front and back)
Does your license plate light work?

[vanfromhell]

thanks for reply, alloro.

i have front parking lights

only have rear sidemarkers that don't work, doesn't have front sidemarker lights

old bumper rusted off and someone welded a piece of steel on, with no lisc.plate light. cant find the lisc plate wire.

its a 85 ram 150 conversion with fibergass top and side door wheelchair lift

[alloro]

Since the fronts parking lights are working, the good news is the headlight switch and all of the fuses are good. What you have is a break in the wire going to the rear of the van. Now there is a single wire connector for the rear lights up around the brake booster that is perhaps corroded or not plugged together tight enough. The connector is black and has a single wire coming out one end and two coming out the other end. The color of all the wires are black with a yellow stripe.

[Dodgevanman]

There is an 18ga. Brown wire that comes out of the headlamp switch to a single wire connector above the parking brake pedal. This feeds the rear taillamps & sidemarkers. It should be in the same vicinity as a gray connector that feeds the rear brake, turn signals, and back-up lamps. This is according to the 85 factory schematic. There are also connectors back at the taillights themselves. Here's a dumb question..have you checked the bulbs?

First thing I would do is pull the headlight switch and check the connector where that brown wires come out and make sure it's not melted or something.

BTW, the tag light is mounted on the left rear door in '85. Is yours not still there?

[vanfromhell]

thanks alot guys, that really helps got me going in right direction.

i will check wiring let you know what i find.........

vanman, tried new bulbs and tested for power at socket and wire going into it...nothing. my van is a conversion with rear tire and fiberglass cover over tire, on left door with no tag light ......maybe the moved it to bumper when converted..i will look inside door for wire...

thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!

[vanfromhell]

update- finally dug into this thing, wiring easy to put off.............

i found the brown connecter from headlamp switch, had to pull the dash to find it. i am getting power there. so my break must be wire to rear of van somewhere.

can i just run a new 18 ga. wire from live connecter from headlamp switch to rear lights, under carpet, without any problems.?

thanks for all your help again guys! would have been lost without it!:tup:

[97B2500CCV]

Yes you can though I would run it outside and under the van instead of under the carpet. Under the carpet it could get damaged and possibly short out. Under the back of the van find where the main harness is and cut the original wire and connect in your new wire. Besure to use good eletrical tape and solder the connections if at all possible, makes for better and longer performance. I also use liquid electrial tape to seal the new joints and wrap the wiring together as originally done AFTER you are done testing the circuit.

[alloro]

What about the connector I pointed you towards in post #4 above?

[vanfromhell]

alloro- never found that connector, from what i found two brown wires from headlamp switch to a small round plug type black connecter down to a single brown wire that goes straight into a harness that goes into door post towards rear of van. no black/yellow stripe wire. anyway that brown wire powers up with headlights. it must be as vanman described....

97b2500-thanks for wiring tips ............

should have lights tomorrow..........thanks to all!!!