Brake Lights

Greetings All,

I just have a question about my 89 Chevy 1500. I have no brake lights or 4 way flasher but I do have signals. I thought that it might be the

fuse but replaced it as well as the flasher unit under the dash and still have no brake lights. I have checked the bulbs and they all work.(took them out

and tried them manually) but still have had no luck anybody else had this problem in the past and could give me some help in where else to look would be

greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance

Richard

Reply to
Richard Knight
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Richard,

Could be two things:

1) 4-way flasher is different than the turn signal flasher so it could be out, brake lights are turned on by brake light switch which could also be shot.

2) Taillight circuit boards are shot, common problem on these trucks.

3) Remove the tail light assembley and unplug the harness. There are 4 pins inside. One is ground (black), the others are for the lights (3 lights = 3 wires). Using small alligator clips or something else, attach the ground pin to a good ground, then apply +12V to each of the three remaining pins. If all the bulbs light up it's likely #1, if one bulb stays out it's #2.

Doc

Reply to
"Doc"

IF, as I do, you live in a northern climate another common problem comes to mind.

Road salt and sand from the snow covered winter roads sandblasts the wiring harness to the rear of the gas tank that feeds the tail lamps. The year of your truck is just about right for such a problem to show up.

IF that would be the case, I went to a Tractor/Trailer shop and bought

30' of trailer wire. It looks just like extension cord but has 7 conductors with different colors. I also got a large plastic junction box with a waterproof seal and all the color codes are identified to make the job easy. The rear harness was the hardest part but I spliced the stock sockets to the new harness and have no more problems. In our climate (often -20F) trying to repair wiring problems is no fun at all and usually results in other wires breaking on you by the time you tuck everything away behind the lamps.

A local stockcar enthusiast known as "Spuds" told me what to get and where to find it. God bless him.

-- Best Regards Gordie

Reply to
The Nolalu Barn Owl

I had to do a similar thing to my '88 K2500 about 4 years ago. I had to remove the taillight harness from the truck, bring it inside, wash it, remove and replace the bad wires soldering/shrinkwrapping everything. I then covered everything in split loom and wrapped that w/ electrical tape. I've been tail light problem free ever since.

-Bret

Reply to
Bret Chase

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