License lamp issue.

[72tutone]

I just replaced my rear license plate bulb and lens. When I turn on the headlights with the taillight illuminating I get no light from the bulb. I checked the fuses and nothing looks like its blown. I did check underneath where the harness was coming down to it, and I noticed a white wire that was hanging loose from a ground mounted to the chassis via a terminal in with a screw. That was rusted out, so I drilled another hole, put another terminal plug and put it into the frame. I still dont have light at the location.

Any ideas?

[cdowns]

check with meter to see if you get voltage to the socket// if you get voltage at the socket you're either putting the bulb in wrong or the socket isnt properly grounded

[72tutone]

pardon my ignorance cdowns but with a voltmeter just stick the postive lead down into the socket and the ground to frame or wherever, set the voltmeter to volts and away I go? How many volts should I be seeing.

[Clyde65]

sorry to jump in yalls conversation but to answer the question Yes just as you said it. You should see somewhere around 12VDC. make sure the voltmeter is on DC voltage, dont ask, you dont want to know......

[mr48chev]

You can do pretty much the same thing with a test light. The lead to the license light should come out of the rear harness an end on it that the lead from the license light plugs into unless someone has cut it off. You need to make sure you have power to that point and then figure out what is going on with the light. The culprit on those is usually a poor ground connection as you mentioned above. If the frame and bumper brackets were painted before assembly you may not be getting a good electrical connection there.
If you have a multimeter you can set it on the low dc voltage = 20 or so and then it should read the voltage to the lamp when the lights are turned on. A voltage drop would mean you have a restriction in the line which is usually a corroded connection.