Tail light question

[msuguydon]

Bruce

Bruce... be nice.. I will be your neighbor in about two weeks..  

[wayne petty]

this hf item might help...


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94181

hook up one end of the circuit.. follow it until it stops...

they come in handy...

[BFS57]

Bruce

Bruce... be nice.. I will be your neighbor in about two weeks..  

Hello;
Good! Then you can bring your car to my house as I have an extensive amount of electrical supplies as well as tools and (of all things) books
We'll get her fixed, right!

Bruce

[UGLY OLDS]

Don.....Maybe the boat is trying to tell you what it thinks of the upcoming move  :?:  :?:  


Bob.........

[38HAULR]

Check bulbs as suggested,then note the colour of the tail light wires[the actual tail light feed]  .Then locate the loom  at the front kick panel area ,find that wire and check for volts,[you can stick a pin into it,rather than strip insulation and re work]this will determine if a break has occurred or introduced ,and save you ripping up carpet etc needlessly if this area is suspect. after other work was done on your vehicle.......Frank.

[msuguydon]

Don.....Maybe the boat is trying to tell you what it thinks of the upcoming move  :?:  :?:  


Bob.........

The boat is going to real live Tuna fishing grounds..it should be happy... I am taking her from land locked Indiana... well except when it floods to Tampa BAY... BAY... water.. sailing... YES!!!  

Gotta sell the boat and buy a boat!

[msuguydon]

Well I checked the bulbs.. not the bulbs...

Looked at all the wire connections.... re-did a few that were loose..

Still have not found the problem...

Gonna check the light switch next..

[enjenjo]

Do you have a fuse, and is there power to it with the lights on? do the dash lights work?

[msuguydon]

Do you have a fuse, and is there power to it with the lights on? do the dash lights work?

I will check the fuse and dash light.

Are the brake lights and blinkers on a separate circuit?

[wayne petty]

Do you have a fuse, and is there power to it with the lights on? do the dash lights work?

I will check the fuse and dash light.

Are the brake lights and blinkers on a separate circuit?

no they are on the same wire...


left  stop and turn on one wire
right stop and turn on another

both tail lights and the license plate lights on a third..

were you able to open the wiring diagram i posted above?

wayne

[msuguydon]

Do you have a fuse, and is there power to it with the lights on? do the dash lights work?

I will check the fuse and dash light.

Are the brake lights and blinkers on a separate circuit?

no they are on the same wire...


left  stop and turn on one wire
right stop and turn on another

both tail lights and the license plate lights on a third..

were you able to open the wiring diagram i posted above?

wayne

The dash lights work.

My car was re-wried, previous owner cut out the wire harness and re-wired from scratch, unfortunately he cannot produce a copy of his wire diagram.

[wayne petty]

the wiring at the switch was shown in the diagram....  i would imagine that he used the existing switch...


how many wires do you have running back from the instrument panel?



check every fuse.. for power at both ends....  if you only have power at one end... the fuse is blown...

[Bugpac]

did you check continuity for a ground at the rear of the car?

[BFS57]

Hello;
OK! Try this, If you have license light and it is working then the problem is in the tail light socket or ground.
The way these cars wire is that you take the tail light wire to the trunk, split it to the tail lights and license light. It is simple! You may have to take a bunch of stuff up in order (carpet, rear rubber mat, what have you) to accurately check.
In my case, my lamp socket was so badly rusted, I had to get in there with a dremmel tool with a small sanding drum and clean the socket. Then check where the wires connect at the base of the socket. This (if you have everything loose enough) should come out the end of the socket.
Check these connections as they are only soldered wires to the end, one for tail lights one for brake lights.
What ever you do,don't be afraid of electrical! It is a mystery to some and it doesn't have to be that way! You may want to find out what kind of harness your P.O. used, contact that company and get a copy of their wiring diagram.

Bruce

[GPster]

This is getting to be a big problem. I can understand why someone would re-wire the tail lights (and stop lights and back-up lights) if the wires were bad. Even if he changed the color of wires the configuration would be the same     UNLESS   he changed something else. Any of these changes might change the game plan.  Did he put a third brake light in the back window? Does the car have four-way flashers? Did he put trailer lighting on the back for a trailer hitch? Is the steering column stock? Or the strangest thing, did he "Flat Tow" this with another vehicle and have the lights wired to work off another vehicle? Any of these things would have might/would have changed the configuration of the wiring from stop/tail lights in the same bulb to separate bulbs for each (although '58 Chevys had a separate tail light in addition). In '58 one wire would have done the tail lights. If one light doesn't work it might be the bulb or ground. If the bulb socket is not grounded that directional signal in the same socket won't work either. If all tail lights (and license plate lights) don't work it's probably what they have in common, power. If it's still wired like a '58 Chevy then Wayne's diagram is it only the color has changed. If any of the changes that I listed has been done you're playing on a different field. Just because you hope the problem is small doesn't mean that the answer will be found in the shortest reply. I know I talk too much but I also read all the answers (until the subject of sheep and rubber boots comes up) to see if there's something I missed. Somewhere there's an answer. GPster