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JEH in La.
My trailer running lights are out. The left light went out first then the right a couple days latter. I have brake lights, blinkers, emg. flashers, everything except running lights.Checked everything and seem to be ok. Any help would be appricated. They are the LED type.Last edited by Cleminator on July 30th, 2017, 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sounds like you just might have a fuse that is out on your vehicle. Can you get a friend to hook onto your trailer to test and see if all is ok then? If not the fuse then maybe the “brown” wire or connection for your running lights. If all else fails then there might be a ground connection that is not making good contact.Everyone should believe in something. I believe Ill just go fishing!
Random light failures are usually a bad or weak ground. Check the white wire is clean and secure to the trailer. Also, clean your hitch ball and the coupler where the ball rests. Make sure the is no rust. Finally, clean both plugs (vehicle and trailer).
Check your wiring closely for each tail light. The last three Cats I have had, had the same issue, either tail lights or brake/turn signal lights. In either case I found that the splices the factory makes which connect the wiring of the trailer to the wiring of the light are bad. Its at the butt connector most normally. My current 2015 has had issues three different times in the past year. Frustrating to say the least.
So, if I still have brake lights, turn signals etc. how can the ground be a problem? Are they grounded seperatly?Ill check everything again and put new connerctors from the trailer harness to the lights. Definatly no rust on the ball/trailer connection – maybe a little dirt. Also just installed a new 7 by 5 way adapter. (Lost it some where ?? Rattled out…..) But the problem existed before that happened.
I am no expert on trailer wiring, although unfortunately, I have had way too much experience fixing them. Sometimes it is a ground issue, I dont see how, if brakes and signals are working, but it surely could be. I still think checking those connections is where I would start first. My first Cat never had any lighting issues, but the last three have driven me crazy.
The last one I just fixed was wierd and it all had to do with a weak ground between the ball and hitch. Everything worked as advertised until I turned on my head lights. Again everything worked as normal except when I used my turn signals. When I used one, BOTH would flash. A weak ground does crazy things!
Yes, and many vehicles do not have the ground connected to the harness pin. Thus the vehicle ground is often the issue. Most of todays newer vehicles do not have this challenge.
I just finished replacing the 5 red running lights on the rear. I bought optronics LED types. Had previously replaced the two side amber lights with same thing, and when I bought the boat I bought two Optronics LED tail/stop/turn lights as I had long since had my fill of those leaking on my previous boat.You can get the running lights at Academy for $6.49 each. You can find em online for $4.44 but unless you order a couple of dozen, shipping makes them as expensive as academy. On mine, the three center lights are on a piece of chrome-plated metal. If you buy the post-mounted bulbs, you can remove the shiny back (which includes the post) with two screws, and they will screw right on to the factory chrome plate. A little splicing (I always use solder/heat shrink myself) and you are done. If you can turn on your truck lights, and you get tail lights but no running lights, pretty unlikely to be a ground. Only issue is the side running lights attach to a fiberglass fender, so BCB ran a wire from the mounting/post (and also serves as ground) to the trailer frame somewhere. You can check em, but I cant imagine all of em going out so close together. Then again, it is hard to imagine all of the bulbs going out at the same time, so who knows..After I cleaned all the connections, replaced all of the lights, I took my 12v coleman camp lantern and removed the battery pack (8 D-cells). I tested everything by using jumpers to connect that to the trailer wiring connector at the hitch end. That way you know you didnt miss a bad connection or anything else.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
Cleminator wrote:So, if I still have brake lights, turn signals etc. how can the ground be a problem? Are they grounded seperatly?Ill check everything again and put new connerctors from the trailer harness to the lights. Definatly no rust on the ball/trailer connection – maybe a little dirt. Also just installed a new 7 by 5 way adapter. (Lost it some where ?? Rattled out…..) But the problem existed before that happened.Running lights usually have their own fuse so I would check that. Then, seperately, the brake lights, turn signals, have their own fuse too. Did you check your owners manual and see where the fuse is for the running lights? Everyone should believe in something. I believe Ill just go fishing!
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