no tail lights 72 valiant

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elvaliant66

elvaliant66

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EL MONTE ,CA
i need your guys help.so my headlights,turn signals,brake,high beam,dome lights work but i got no tail lights.i checked my fuse box all the wires that lead to the headlight switch.and still nothing ,right when i put a new fuse in and i turn on my parking lights on the fuse blows out.i unplugged the tail light section of the harness by the left kick panel and tried a new fuse and as i pulled the switch to turn on the lights it blew out again...so i know for sure its not the sockets at the tail lights shorting out. the wierd thing is that sometimes the fuse doesnt blow out right away ,when it doesnt blow out i wiggle the wires by the fuse box and the headlight switch and they work fine . so i was glad they were working but then as i drive down a couple blocks the fuse blows out again:wack::wack:. ..can someone help me out?
 
elvaliant66 said:
i need your guys help.so my headlights,turn signals,brake,high beam,dome lights work but i got no tail lights.i checked my fuse box all the wires that lead to the headlight switch.and still nothing ,right when i put a new fuse in and i turn on my parking lights on the fuse blows out.i unplugged the tail light section of the harness by the left kick panel and tried a new fuse and as i pulled the switch to turn on the lights it blew out again...so i know for sure its not the sockets at the tail lights shorting out. the wierd thing is that sometimes the fuse doesnt blow out right away ,when it doesnt blow out i wiggle the wires by the fuse box and the headlight switch and they work fine . so i was glad they were working but then as i drive down a couple blocks the fuse blows out again:wack::wack:. ..can someone help me out?
Click to expand...
It's going to be a pain but what I think you have is a high resist joint. This will cause heat.
Look for blackend or possible cooking of wire insulation. In my AP5 the wiring harness had a fusible link. In the wiring diagramme all it showed was a little rectangles box or just a connection of a few wires in the harness. This went on the car when I was a kid. The car was nearly lost as the harness went up in smoke.
If you can get access to a thermal image camera that would help out quickly.
The wire may even be broken in the insulation.
The fuse is not blowing straight away because it's not a dead short.
Load from the lights causes a current draw the bad joint drags more current and it becomes too much for the fuse.
If you can get a thermal image camera try going up one or two fuse sizes and look at the wiring to see for a hot spot. It may even be in the gauge cluster. The stop lights and instruments lights use the same fuze. This tells you that there are no tail lights if your gauges don't light up.
Or the wire in the harness has rubbed through the insulation and is just touching the body some ware often those metal bendy tabs behind the dash to hold the harness does this.
Good luck.
I just remembered and I'm not familiar with your car directly but check the multi wire plug on the gauge cluster on my car the pin on the back of the cluster got a dry joint and I had to re solder it onto the printed board it did exactly what your saying.
 
You would want to check out a wiring diagram and check all the possible feeds that branch off that circuit and test with a short finder , I gave you a link to a cheap one that you can get through Summit and a link to a video showing you how to use it:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZrCrBx4uFY"]Finding a active short - YouTube[/ame]




http://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...irViyks_4TIqpQ0FCV3I0A3BA3X3gNH6w7BoCQ6fw_wcB
 
First, do you have a service manual? If not, download one from MyMopar.

Next, learn to manipulate the bulkhead connector. These are actually (usually 3) connectors in one. You can identify the line coming out of the connector in the engine bay---which supplies parking lights, and remove that one wire. Learn to deal with these. The connector pins have a "latch" that you can release, and slide it right out.

Why? What does this do?

Because you can REMOVE the engine bay side of the parking light/ marker light wire, plug the rest of it all back together and test. This will isolate whether the problem is in the passenger cab or in the engine bay. You have already isolated the rear harness.

Has the wiring been chopped up? any added lights, accessories "in there?" tach? gauges? etc?
 
If you catch it while it is shorting out, the short finder will point the direction of the short ,no need to take apart a connector.
 
Here is what I would do. Get a sealed beam headlight and connect two wires to the terminals so that when connected to power one of the filaments will illuminate. Put alligator clips on the ends of the wires. Connect those two wires from the headlight to the fuse clips on the fuse panel where the fuse that blows is located. With the headlight connected in place of the fuse the light will illuminate when the short to ground that is blowing the fuse is present and the parking lights on.

At that point you can start to wiggle small sections of the wire harness for the affected circuit a little at a time. When you disturb the area of the short so that the short is removed the light will go out and you will know you are in the right area.
 
Rustedwrench said:
Here is what I would do. Get a sealed beam headlight and connect two wires to the terminals so that when connected to power one of the filaments will illuminate. Put alligator clips on the ends of the wires. Connect those two wires from the headlight to the fuse clips on the fuse panel where the fuse that blows is located. With the headlight connected in place of the fuse the light will illuminate when the short to ground that is blowing the fuse is present and the parking lights on.

At that point you can start to wiggle small sections of the wire harness for the affected circuit a little at a time. When you disturb the area of the short so that the short is removed the light will go out and you will know you are in the right area.
Click to expand...

I've been known to do this exact thing. another thing you can do with a test headlight is when you have something like a "major" short or draw. One EG is a problem in the alternator or charging line WHICH IS NOT FUSE, or the headlights. You can take that test "head" light and hook in series with battery ground. Now, a dead short "somewhere" will not burn anything up, but it will light up your "test" lamp.
 
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