I am trying to get my new truck (92 extended cab 4x4 V6 standard) to pass a safety inspection and cannot figure out this tail light situation. I have replaced the entire interior fuseblock seeing as how the old one was badly corroded. There is a trailer light connector wired in, but it does not use an adapter, just spliced into the wiring at the rear. All the other lights work, just the front marker lights and rear parking lights don't work. I checked the relay and it pins out fine, the switch on the column works as I can hear the relay click on and off. Are there any particular trouble spots on these trucks that I should be looking at? I have searched through other threads, but people either aren't posting their solutions or have other symptoms.

 

I have the same problem with the same setup. If I figure it out ill post it up

 

I just ripped the trailer harness out and found that the previous owner had wired the running lights to the liscence plate lights. I cleaned up the wiring there but still no lights. I have also been pouring over the wiring diagram to figure out how the daytime running light module messes with things. I also discovered that I have no dash lights. The tail relay on the fuseblock is getting pretty damned warm while I have the switch turned on as well. Is this normal?

 

The FSM says to inspect the fusible link and I can see one on the wiring diagram before the single line splits to two lines and back to the tails. Where do you find this fusible link? I don't have any clue where to look for it. I have been all over this truck and run continuity tests on damn near every single terminal so this link is my last resort before I start running wire and bypassing the problem.

 

I have the same exact problem. No dash lights no tail lights no brake lights but reverse and blinkers work fine.

Do you by chance hve an auto?

 

Nope, mine's a 5 speed. I still have my brake lights and reverse lights though. From what I can figure out the tail lights and front markers are on a different circuit, so it doesn't really make sense for both of your problems to be caused by a single fault. In Canada we have daytime running lights which mean an extra control module to route the circuit through which just increases the likelihood of failure. The circuit routing is a little confusing until you start to do some continuity tests on the harness and then it all starts to make sense. Unfortunately for me it couldn't just be a hardware issue, I have to go trace all the wires and find the fault.

 

So I haven't heard back about any fusible links in the tail light circuit which leads me to believe that there either isn't one, or that nobody has messed around with them. I have traced the wire leading back to the tail lights all the way up to the fuse block. I have 12 volts at the terminal when I turn the switch, yet nothing out back. I have decided to strip back the casing on that wire and solder on my own wire leading back to the lens. I will do the same for the front corner lights as well. I can't be bothered peeling back all of the shrouds and electrical tape and whatever else to find the fault, so I am just going to bypass it. Should be less of a pain. I will post my results as they develope.

 

Every time I've ever heard of a tail light issue, there was a hack job trailer wiring installed... \

 

X2 on the hack job trailer wiring installed, had to fix that on my current 93 that I'm fixing motor, and my current B2300, both had the hack job trailer wiring installed, and took taking it off and redo all the wiring back to original and if they would had paid a few bucks for the adapters all the trouble would have been avoided.

 

My thought would be to check the continuity from the hot wire leading into the taillight and a body ground back there, if cont there is a short in the circuit before it reaches the lights, prob in the trailer wiring from you description.

Edit - Sorry, not continuity, you'd have that regardless if the switch is on I'd imagine. Just thinking that you should be able to pick up on voltage passing to a ground in the rear. Maybe running some wire direct to battery ground and taking a voltmeter reading between it and the frame with switch in on and off position would let you pick up on that? VIsualizing these things is so much easier after breakfast...

 

Well I fixed my problem!

It ended up being the fuse. But I think it was because the trailer wiring was unprotected and after it raind is when it stopped working.

But I changed the fuses 20 times and they kept blowing so who knows.

Good luck! Hope yours is fixd

 

Blubs are good??

Have you cleaned the sockets corrosion can cause problems sometimes you can`t see it with the naked eye.

Fuse sockets also can be loose or corroded as well as the tail light relay.

The relay coil can still work hence the clicking but the contacts might be stuck open or not making contact. worn or burnt to the point they don`t work

 

I think in my case there were several problems that had to be fixed. The fuseblock and the relay were both corroded and shorting out. The trailer wiring was also corroded and shorting out. There is still a short somewhere in the original factory wiring that I am never going to find. In the end I fixed it by running new wire off the fuseblock to the front corner lens and the rear tails. I found that I had a voltage on the lead coming off the fuseblock (FYI it's found on the connector on the front of the block just in front of the relay, one of the green wires) so I soldered my new wires on there. While I was at I soldered on the Toyota trailer wiring harness I found while pulling stuff off an old 4runner. Everything works fine now, but what a pain in the ass to get here.

 

well my solution was short lived!

Im back to trying to find my problem. Im going to guess i have a wire that has been rubbed raw or something causing it to ground out becuase once again it isnt working. I removed the u-haul wiring that was added. Still blowing fuses. So now i guess im about to try and track down the short.

No good. Congrats on getting yours fixed though. Would really hate to have to redo the whole thing. I hate electrical problems as is and this only solidifies our relationship!!!

 

sounds like a direct short.. get out the wire tester and start pokin wires

 

Where do i start though?

I cant even find the diagram for the fuse panel on the drivers side kick panel...

google yielded me one result and it was too fuzzy to read what was what. so i dont even know what fuse is blowing.

 

http://www.pnw4runners.com/tech/inca...en_fusebox.jpg

is that the right one??!??

 

turn on lights.. clamp alligator clip to frame, poke hot wires until you find the one that isnt getting power.
do this at the lights..
once you find the wire, begin slowly going back towards the front of the engine until you find the point where power is once again found.

 

The really ridiculous thing about all this is that I install solar energy systems and am in the middle of an electricians apprenticeship. You'd think I wouldn't be having my ass handed to me by a truck. But household wiring is so much easier to figure out than vehicle wiring. There's just so many possible places for current to ground out on a vehicle. If in your case you are popping fuses then you have a grounding issue where there shouldn't be one. I had a lack of voltage issue, all fuses were fine. Do what I did and get a roll of wire. I will try to take a picture and highlight which wire on the fuseblock the circuit starts from in case you decide to bypass the issue like I did.