Tail Light Issue

[First66]

I recently bought a set of tail lights from Classicparts.com and my wiring is off and I dont know where to start. I searched the Electrical section of the forum but most, if not all threads are of post 67 trucks so I figured someone here might be more familiar with the problem.

http://www.classicparts.com/1960-66-...ctinfo/49-132/

Turns signal function is the only one that works. When I pull the headlight switch, nothing, and when I brake, nothing. The new tail lights have an orange and black wire, and my truck has a four wires going back, all the same color. I used a spark tester to tell the Left and Right signal wires, but got nothing from the other two. Other than follow the faulty wires up to the cab, what else could it be?

[padresag]

how about your grounds
ron

[JohnnyBoy350]

I just went through the hell of taillight wiring and it was the ground in my case. Thats why the ground wire is always black- its EVIL!! Its ALWAYS the ground!! hahaha

If you look at where the taillight wiring goes through the firewall you can unplug it from the main harness under the dash. Thats where I started, tested the functions at the main harness. Just work you way back testing each part of the harness till you find the problem........which will probly be the ground hahaha. I couldn't even get my test light to ground on that old rusty frame of mine, had to resort to a flap disc to clean it up.

-John

[BR3W CITY]

might sound dumb but I had ordered LED tails for my truck, and when I got them I wired them color to color as I expected. I turned everything on to find out the functions didn't work. I went back and noticed that each wire is labeled, and they do not follow "common sense" wiring. Black isn't ground, and they had 2 of the same color for signal and on.

[First66]

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

might sound dumb but I had ordered LED tails for my truck, and when I got them I wired them color to color as I expected. I turned everything on to find out the functions didn't work. I went back and noticed that each wire is labeled, and they do not follow "common sense" wiring. Black isn't ground, and they had 2 of the same color for signal and on.

Same here. Mine came with a two, one black and one orange; the orange is ground.

[fixit-p]

Red=Stop/Turn
Black=Taillight

If there is no other wire for ground then it is grounded through the mounting screws. Make sure the bed is grounded to the frame and ultimately the frame needs to be grounded to the battery

[herumith]

I had a similar issue on my fleetside taillights. It seems that with any amount of rust on the frame, your grounds won't work since the mounting screws for the light fixture are the grounds.

[First66]

I got sidetracked with getting this crap bumper off, but will definitely be giving the lights a go again. I'll keep you all posted. PO didnt even attempt to build brackets for it, and it dented my fenders about an inch in on both sides...