Crappy Trailer Light Problem...

[vikingmeatwad]

I have a light out and it's getting me mad now. I tried to replace bulb, nothing, Replaced the light...nothing. Now I tested to the Y on the trailer and both are working with the tester. Went to test at the back light and the running light works fine but no blinker.

The kicker here is that I bought a new wiring kit and before I installed in the trailer I hooked it up and still the same issue.

Does anyone think that my truck blinker light may be a bit weak or soemthing? I am seriously out of ideas.

Thanks!

[BillP]

When I find myself frustrated by a trailor light problem it usually turns out to be a problem with the ground. Are your lights grounded through the trailor frame or do you have ground wires that run to each light. String a good solid ground wire and then use that when you test. Hope this helps.

[Jeremy airjer W]

So you have no blinker? Or no light at all on one side.

At the connector use a test light to see if the blinker is working. If it is then there is a problem on the trailer side. If not then there is a problem on the truck side. More than likely its a poor connection (corroded) or a broken wire. It is important to check for the blinker power at the connector with it plugged in to the truck. If there is no power then try the truck side with it unplugged if power returns then there is a corroded/poor connection.

[efgh]

Some or all of the newer trucks, Ford for sure have a seperate fuzes for the trailer, you can have all the lites working on the truck and still have trailer lite problems. The fuzes On a ford for the trailer plug are under the hood on the left fire wall in a square black plastic box. This might be your problem.

[chris63]

Do yourself a favor and get a multimeter test unit(any autostore,fleet farm,wallyworld,ect)There are instruction manuals for simple dc circuits that also help out.Hope this helps.Whomever said the ground side of the circuit is a wise man because over half of the time it is somehow a ground problem.c63

[vikingmeatwad]

Thanks guys,

I regrounded tightly against the trailer frame and used my multimeter to show that the left blinker is sending the wattage to start the blinker.

The problem is when I hook either my existing or my new wire it loses the dang power when I hook the blinker wire up.

This is a '94 Toyota pickup and all blinkers/wires work fine.

Thanks again for your help guys.

[Jeremy airjer W]

If your losing power for the turn signal at the connecter with everything hooked up and there is power with everything disconnected then the problem is with the vehicle. You should be able to trace the pigtail on the vehicle to a plug in (O.E.) or if it is after market than you need to figure out where it is spliced in. look for green powdery corrosion. This is your enemy!!

Corrosion on a power wire is nothing more than a resistor. Once the voltage gets through the resistance of the corrosion there is not enough left over to power up the filament in the bulb.

[B3B]

My neighbor had the exact same problem.

His find was that an 1157 rear blinker/break/running light bulb CAN be put in backward, and if it is, the blinker will not work, but the running light will.

If it's an 1157 bulb, try taking it out, turn it 180*, and reinstall. If you look at it when it's out, you'll see that one of the small stems that stick out of the side of the base is higher up on the base than the other, and the receptacle slots are the same way, to power the bulb correctly.