No Damn Tailights!

I knew there was a problem with the rear tail light buckets but thought I had it fixed till I got to the DMV inspection line!
After my initial failure, went home and finally got em to work! Back to DMV and finally passed.
With my Delaware Antique tags on the 63 i proudly cruised home to show the wife I was street legal!
Decided I would take the beast to work early the next morning, not understanding the flashing lights of cars passing by.
Damn rear running/brake lights arent workin. Signals are fine. Checked the buckets, adjusted the bayonet light sockets to fit snuggly, replaced a broken wire and checked the brake light switch off the master brake cylinder. Nothing.
Ideas guys/gals? Have gotten lots of great help from ya'll during this build and was hoping for some more!!!!

 

You check the ground?? Check the bulbs too!

 

Tail lights or stop lights? You seem to be referenceing both? Check that its gounded really well.

 

Chad, quit out typing me

 

Sounds like your loosing the ground. HRP

 

Tail and brake lights. Have checked the ground under the hood. Unless there is a seperate ground for the rear wiring harness that I'm not aware of?

 

all new 1157 bulbs

 

Are you using the same bulbs for brakes and signals or are the signals independent?

 

dual filiment bulbs. A unitized system. 1 per side.

 

your brake lites go throw your trun single switch try to pull back on your switch a little and work it up and down some times that helps do you have power at the brake switch

 

yup, and checked all that also....startin to think ive got a fuseable link issue.

 

Did you comfirm a good ground from bulb holder to bucket and bucket to body?

 

Sounds like a ground issue.....

The question begs what kind of tail lights? not the bulbs that are in there but the tail light buckets. Reason I asked is I have a set of repop 39 ford tail lights and regardless of being mounted on steel they did not want to work, after I soldered a ground wire on the back of the light fixture (bucket) and ran the wire to earth they worked fine.

 

The turn signal switch could cause the brake light problem because the brake and turn signal use the same filament in the bulb but it doesn't explain the tail light problem. It should be easy to check for power to the tail light from the light switch and from the brake light switch to the turn signal switch. Do the light sockets have a ground wire or do they rely on the socket body to provide the ground connection?

 

headlite working ..
taillite not?
brake lite working?
turn signal r-l front?
turn signal r-l rear ?


tools to fix
a pointed 12V test lite that works
do not disconnect anything use the sharp probe

1st grounded to the neg post on battery in the car
(USE A LONG LEAD WIRE IF NEEDED)
check all above leads at the bulbs do they work?
if not move the test probe closer to the source of power until the test light come on
if they work then move test lite ground to other clean metal on the car
you do have a ground batt to frame frame to body engine tobody right?
retest take notes
light sockets need to touch clean metal
or have a separate grounded wire
dash grounded
steering column grounded
check power with the test light at the flasher
use the test light to check both side of fuses right in the box

this is the ez stuff really

 

"a pointed 12V test lite that works"

get a digital multimeter. your friends will think you are an electrical genius. I have a test light somewhere, haven't touched it in years.

 

Each socket should have a ground or be grounded.

Here is the back end of the car's wiring diagram.
http://www.tocmp.com/tOCMP/wiring/5765wiring diagrams/Ford/MWire5765-214.jpg

Here is the front end of the car's wiring diagram.
http://www.tocmp.com/tOCMP/wiring/5765wiring diagrams/Ford/MWire5765-215.jpg

Do you have working dash lights? NO dash lights means a blow fuse as the dash lights are connected to the tail lights/brake lights.

If it's a six cylinder car the links are here http://www.tocmp.com/tOCMP/wiring/5765wiring diagrams/fordindex.htm

 

Wow. This is why I belong to the H.A.M.B!
Workin today but will get back on it tomorrow. Updates to follow.
Thanks to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i think 49ratfink is an electrical genius and am not even his friend

 

The problem(s) won't be able to hide from a multimeter or test light.

 

Forget about multimeters and get a simple test light. Be sure to clean the metal good where you clip the ground wire to.

You're on the HAMB asking for advice about bad taillights. Unless your friends are complete idiots even a pocket protector won't help

 

Multimeters are street roddy. Test lights are traditional.

 

Everyone has already pointed you to the usual culprits, ground or turn signal switch. I had a repeated problem with my after market 39 ford lights it just didn't want to ground, I wound up using an over sized screw through the body and it got better, but as soon as I added 3 new ground straps one from the frame to the body in the back, one from the frame to the body at the fire wall, and one from the frame to the block all my light problems went away and have never come back (knock on wood)! Ground straps are your friend!

 

Check the housings, and follow Salty's route. Ground the bulb holders to a known good ground.

 

IT WORKED!
After reading all the post and gaining ALOT of knowledge......dug in and worked all day.
Replaced both rear sockets, several bad wires, installed 2 new grounds, and cleaned every elec connection I could find. Hell even the dash lights work now!
Even found a new use for my pocket protector......great place to put my test light!!!
Thanks again to all..................

 

Congratulations!

Glad you got it working!

 

Good to read that you got it working..

 

Thanks for the update and closure. So few seem to do that.

 

Goin for a cruise in the morning!

 

A little tidbit, some headlight switches have small fuses for tailights. Also don't recall anyone pointing out a defective headlight switch. Even though the headlights work does not mean that the instrument and tailight portions of the switch are good.