I'm sure this is asked once a day..........

[gonezo]

I'm sure this is asked once a day..........but(<--keyword). Ok, so I'm a little embarrassed to ask this because I've come to find this is asked alot but I have been scouring the board for at least a month and a half to figure this out. I have a '72 step and cannot get the rear lights to work. I've ran ground from the neg-batt terminal to the body and frame scouring under the connections and wire brushing the screws. I've done the same with straps between the frame and body all the way back. I have rewired from firewall harness to rear light harness, cleaned all connections and done continuity test on the rear taillight harness. Bought brand new bulbs. Swapped out all fuses with new fuses in the fuse box(everyone including ones that are not associated with the lights) have grounded the ground leg off the rear harness correctly. Replaced the dimmer switch although I think that only pertains to the headlights. I've checked continuity of the rear blinker assemblies.

I guess my real question is what else under the dash or in the column could be causing the rear lights not to work? I've looked the wire diagram up and down.

Would the gauge cluster have anything to do with it.

Any direction would be much appreciated.

[jhwkns]

A faulty turn signal switch will cause your tail lights to not work.

[gonezo]

Considering the front turn signals work could it still be the turn signal switch?

[JointTech]

just to make sure you arent crazy have you hooked 12V directly to the taillights?

[Hawghauler]

You might check the post at the bottom of the light socket and the grounding potential of the case. Make sure the inside of the socket is shiny brass, or your bulb won't get it's ground. Likewise if the post is corroded you won't get power. I've had this occur in older cars before. Likewise, I believe there is a spring under the positive post inside the socket. Make sure it still exists and is doing it's job. Good Luck

[gonezo]

I almost went for the 12v directly to the taillights but I just figured it out! So I mentioned I re-wired all the way to the firewall. This was because the intermediate harness to the rear was dry rotted and spliced in two places and also in the rear. Well I took a bad section out of the intermediate harness and rewired ANC properly hear shrinked all the connections and heat shrinked the two bundles. I also removed all the plugs in the rear and reconnected and re-shrunk them to new wire. So I thought I possibly didn't wire correctly that's when I checked the continuity on all connections on the rear harness and rear light assemblies which, they all tested good.

Long story short I stopped being lazy and got at the firewall to intermidiate harness(long run to the rear) and low and behold the plug on the inside must have been hanging through the hole in the firewall(out into the engine bay) when the previous owner decided to spray the firewall etc with black. All the brass connections had been painted over and the engine side of the connection was completely green all the male connectors were caked in corrosion.

What brought me to check that was a did a voltage check at the rear and the numbers were all low and bouncing around.

Anyway thanks for tryin to help a brother out!

[gonezo]

[motorcritter]

And another visionary PO strikes again! I've been making it a point to check those through-the-firewall connectors for nastiness. Working in Coastal Florida, I saw a whole lotta bad electrical connections, thanks to humid, salty air. I was able to solve several 'head-scratcher mysteries' by pulling those apart and cleaning them- then liberally applying dielectric grease, to avoid future problems.

[gonezo]

Yah I sprayed them down with battery terminal cleaner and then did what I could to brush them out but The terminal cleaner only sat for about 10min. Corrosion and everything should be looser this evening I'll pull it apart again and rebrush and should be solid.

I'm kinda kicking myself because I had thought about pulling that previously but the connection is so far behind the engine and high in the dash I let it alone.

Atleast I learned something though. Let no connection go un-turned! The amount of corrosion was suprising and I was really bewildered why someone would plug that back together after painting over it! Thanks for your help though. Now I have something to pass on to someone here when I see someone else having rear Tailight issues!