Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WALLEYE DIVER]

I am taking a fishing trip this weekend and I spent most of the night lastnight trying to get my lights working on my boat trailer. <br /><br />Here it goes... Before working on it both trailer lights lite when my head lights of my truck were on... but thats it, no brake lights or turn signals on either trailer lights. The truck tail lights worked, but the trailer didn't. <br /><br />So I used a dremel and cleaned the plug from my truck wiring and the plug on my trailer wiring, got them nice an clean. Than I Cleaned up the ground wire to the trailer... got everything sanded down to bare metal for the ground. Than I put 2 new lights on my trailer, cause the old ones were getting kinda of rough looking on the contact points. <br /><br />After all that I tested them... The passenger side trailer light everything works- turn signal, brake light, head lights. Now for the drivers side, still the only time that side will light up is when I turn on the head lights of my truck, no brake light, no turn signal on that side. <br /><br />whats up with that?? I am not sure what to try next? <br /><br />I am going to try to hook my truck up to my buddies trailer tonight and see its my truck that is the problem. <br /><br />anybody got any ideas?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you Checked the wiring a Any Point with a Test Light to See Where there's Power,..?????....<br /><br />A $3. Test Light will tell you Awhole Lot More than driving over to your Buddy's.....

 

[Pony]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would check the other 2 grounds....you said you cleaned the one near the trailer tongue from the vehicle........there is also a ground at each light. Generally each light is ground through the bolts that hold the light to the frame. If it were me I'd try that first and proceed with a test light from there....<br /><br /><br />Its also plausible though not likely that you got a bad bulb when you bought the new ones....now that you have the left side working, put that bulb in the right side and see if the problem follows the bulb.

 

[WALLEYE DIVER]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

well his boat is in my driveway, so it shouldn't be to far of a drive. <br /><br />Ya, I cleaned up the holes where the lights mount to the trailer with a drill bit. I read somewhere else that a tilt trailer will have grounding problems to the rear of the trailer with out running a ground wire to each light. I was going to try that too. <br /><br />I will give the test light a try...<br /><br />If the bulb was bad would it light up at all? the drivers side will light up when I turn my truck head lights on, just nothing else works though.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

turn signal/brake and taillight are different lamps together inside the same fixture.<br /><br />My money's on the connectors - I bet one of em's gone bad - that's what I'd test first - the yellow wire first on the vehicle side then on the trailer side of the connection.<br /><br />good luck.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

90% of trailer light problems are grounds. i eliminated this by running a direct ground wire from the plug to all the fixtures. did you clean the ground on the truck.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read somewhere else that a tilt trailer will have grounding problems to the rear of the trailer with out running a ground wire to each light. I was going to try that too.

Rather than running Awhole Bunch of wires all over the Trailer,.........<br />If you attach 1 Ground Wire,.... From Each Side of the Trailers's Hinge(where it Tilts),.... <br />You can Usually get away with about 18" of Wire,... 2 Wire Ends,... And a couple of Screws......<br />You'll get a Nice Clean,.. Simple Installation,..... That Does the Job...... <br /><br />The Ground leg Isn't hard to carry back to the Battery,.....<br />Steel is a Very Good conductor,.... It's the Hinge Points that Always Need Attention......<br />The Trailer Hitch Hinge,....<br />The Tilt Hinge,.....<br />And of course,.... All of the Fixture,+ Wiring Attachments are Always Suspect.........<br /><br />Jumper Cables are a Real Handy Tool to find Ground Problems..........<br />1 Clamp grounded to the Towunit Frame,+ the Other Clamp on the Trailer Frame......<br />You could do the same at your Tilt Hinge.......<br />That'll narrow it down to the Fixtures.....Or Wiring Connections...........<br /><br />You've Got to get a Test Light,......<br />You can NOT do Simple 12V Wiring without 1........

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

Use a battery charger to test the trailer lights. Connect the ground lead to a bolt on the trailer frame. Put a nail in the Positive clip and touch it to the pin with the brown wire. Both tail lights should come on (dim). If one does and the other doesn't its obvious the problem lies somewhere at or beyond the point where the brown wire splits to go to the other light. The problem very likely is at that splice point. Next, touch either of the other two pins (yellow and green wires). This is the stop/turn signal filament (bright). A separate wire runs to each light so again if one side works and the other doesn't, check the wire for the side that doesn't. If the stop/turn and tail light that doesn't work is in the same light, by golly, must be bulb or ground at the fixture. When you have everything working, remove the negative charger clip from the bolt and hook it to the terminal with the white wire. If everything went goofy - you found the problem again. There is a ground wire problem.

 

[WALLEYE DIVER]

Re: Trailer lights!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for all your help guys! <br /><br />I got it fixed lastnight... I put a new tee plug wire harness on my truck and everything is working again.