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Cab Brake light works, Rear Brakes and blinkers no power
Hey I have just picked up a 99 B2500. There is a weird issue - the Rear Brake lights and Turn Signals don't work.
I have power to fuse numbers 3 and 7 when the brake pedal is pressed, but no power to the rear. I took the connector off and only have power in the thick green wire at the rear plug, when the brakes are pressed.
Just looked it up on the library website and YES..............I didn't know this, the Mazda B-series used the Ranger 1999 wiring until at least 2004 so I imagine to the end of prodution
Yes its definitely a 1999, and it definitely only has power to #3 and #7 when the brakes are pressed.
2 bulbs in each rear light... so maybe 3 and 7 is just for the trailer power?
And many thanks for the help!!
If tail lights just have 2 bulbs per side then it would have
Backup light, white lens
Then a dual filament bulb that does park/turn/brake, 1 filament is park light, 1 filament is turn/brake
Does that sound right?
Or is there a 3rd bulb for turn, as Supercab said, with amber/yellow lens?
which tail light and bed style do you have ?, top Mazda or bottom Ford
The Mazda will have 3 colors, Red, Yellow and Clear, and MUST HAVE 3 bulbs, 1 dual filament for brake and tail, and 2 single filaments, 1 for turn and 1 for backup
Wondering if some one put a Ranger bed on your Mazda
Notice how the Mazda bed has different styling , and the Ford is smoother.
Last edited by 2011Supercab; May 16, 2020 at 07:00 AM.
Looks like its a Ranger bed! Ranger lights... looks like I have some custom wiring in my future.
The wiring is probably there in the harness that goes to the back of the truck, and you can get I believe 93 - 99 Ranger taillights that will have all 3 colors.
Or check and see if the trailer plug works properly and tap into it for the 2 bulb wiring.
The wiring is probably there in the harness that goes to the back of the truck, and you can get I believe 93 - 99 Ranger taillights that will have all 3 colors.
Or check and see if the trailer plug works properly and tap into it for the 2 bulb wiring.
I will play around with it today and take some pics.
My thought is this... if there is no power at all to the rear, i.e. no tail lights, no backup lights, or Plate Lights, there might be a harness problem.
If the backup lights have power but the brakes/tails/directionals don't (any configuration), then it could be the Multifunction Switch that is having a problem.
There are plenty of Tail lights out there for Ranger that have the three light housing, the only problem that arises is the Connectors, they differer a little between years.
I swapped Tail Lights on my 2003 to LED Housings, that I thought were for my year truck, they only had two lighting areas, one for the back up light on top and then the Tail and Brake lights. on the bottom.
When I installed the Housings the Existing 2003 Connectors had to be modified to mount in the housing, based on the wire coming out of the connector; it didn't take much to do it but the point being the connector was positioned differently. Remodeled one of the tabs.
My wiring mod was straight forward, I changed the top lights (previous Backup Lights), to directionals, and added separate KC Backup Lights in the bumper. Added some amber bulbs for the directional and wham-bam, I had separate directionals.
Wiring wasn't hard to do, added one wire from the brake light switch in the cab and ran it to the rear for both brake lights, moved the existing Brake/Directional Light wires up to the new directional locations.
Use the Tail lights that you like the looks off and rewire accordingly !
My thought is this... if there is no power at all to the rear, i.e. no tail lights, no backup lights, or Plate Lights, there might be a harness problem.
If the backup lights have power but the brakes/tails/directionals don't (any configuration), then it could be the Multifunction Switch that is having a problem.
There are plenty of Tail lights out there for Ranger that have the three light housing, the only problem that arises is the Connectors, they differer a little between years.
I swapped Tail Lights on my 2003 to LED Housings, that I thought were for my year truck, they only had two lighting areas, one for the back up light on top and then the Tail and Brake lights. on the bottom.
When I installed the Housings the Existing 2003 Connectors had to be modified to mount in the housing, based on the wire coming out of the connector; it didn't take much to do it but the point being the connector was positioned differently. Remodeled one of the tabs.
My wiring mod was straight forward, I changed the top lights (previous Backup Lights), to directionals, and added separate KC Backup Lights in the bumper. Added some amber bulbs for the directional and wham-bam, I had separate directionals.
Wiring wasn't hard to do, added one wire from the brake light switch in the cab and ran it to the rear for both brake lights, moved the existing Brake/Directional Light wires up to the new directional locations.
Use the Tail lights that you like the looks off and rewire accordingly !
Ltr
I have tested the rear plug for power only from brakes, its there. I will prob just rig it up so blinkers work when not braking.... still need to make sure I am getting blinker, plate light power, and lamp
I have tested the rear plug for power only from brakes, its there. I will prob just rig it up so blinkers work when not braking.... still need to make sure I am getting blinker, plate light power, and lamp
OK while you are at the back end and checking wiring, see if you can determine if there are separate wires for brakes, tail and directional.
In a two light housing, One Bulb is - Brake/Directionals on one wire, Tails on another going to the same connector and the backup lights.
For a three Light Housing you should see a Bake wire, Directional Wire, Tail light wire, and back up lights wire.
The Brake/Tail light wire usually goes to the same connector but to different filaments in a two filament bulb; the directional can be part of the brake light wire or a separate wire depending on the housing/year, and of course Backup lights are what they are.
Once you get the wiring figured out, the rest is just plain hookup using the good assembly methods, keep it clean, solder, and use a good quality heat shrink with adhesive on the insides.
Keep posting with your findings, this could help a lot of people trying to figure out the wiring in their truck.
Don't forget to label the wires as you determine what the are for.
OK while you are at the back end and checking wiring, see if you can determine if there are separate wires for brakes, tail and directional.
In a two light housing, One Bulb is - Brake/Directionals on one wire, Tails on another going to the same connector and the backup lights.
For a three Light Housing you should see a Bake wire, Directional Wire, Tail light wire, and back up lights wire.
The Brake/Tail light wire usually goes to the same connector but to different filaments in a two filament bulb; the directional can be part of the brake light wire or a separate wire depending on the housing/year, and of course Backup lights are what they are.
Once you get the wiring figured out, the rest is just plain hookup using the good assembly methods, keep it clean, solder, and use a good quality heat shrink with adhesive on the insides.
Keep posting with your findings, this could help a lot of people trying to figure out the wiring in their truck.
Don't forget to label the wires as you determine what the are for.
Ltr
Will do, although I will probably try to repin the existing bed harness. The harness from the frame seems correct for a 99.
Added for clarity: On the frame side Green is Brake, Brown is Lamp, Grn/Pink is LH turn, Orange is RH turn, Blk/white is reverse, blk is ground
On the bed side Brown is Brake, LH turn is GRN/Pink, RH is Org/Blue, Reverse is Blk/pink, blk is ground.
So I have 1 left over wire. I cant wire it to reverse, so one of either lamp turn or brake has to be wired together.
LH 3 & LH 2 RH 3 & RH2 Pic for good measure Figured it out from this, remember the bed side is mirrored so position # 4 goes into #1, bed to frame plug. Steering Column, top Frame to Bed Connector
Last edited by GrizzleGarage; May 16, 2020 at 11:38 AM.
Observations: ( 1 2 ^ 3 4 ) Plug with ^ as clip
( 5 6 7 8 )
Looking at the frame plug side (male), Orange and Blue needs to be moved from 2 to 4; Black is good; Green pink moved to #8
Cant help you on the color codes, RonD where are you ?
Before I started to take apart my Steering Column to get to the Multi-Function Switch, I would determine what is what with the back end connectors.
But since you are changing pins around you must have this under control.
Good Luck,
Just reread your last posting.
From your list, it appears the Frame side of the connector has a Separate Directional wire... this to me means you need separate directional lamps.
IMHO... there isn't any way to run the separate brake and the separate directional wires together, when the directional is on and you step on the brake, the brake signal will override the directional signal.
Just my opinion and thinking out loud... if I read your wiring list correctly, I would get some Ranger Tail Housings that have the three lights get new connectors and wire them up. OR add new backup lights to the bumper and use the Tail light housing backup light location as directionals. Since you have a separate wire for the directionals just rewire the backup light connector with the directional wire. Use the backup light wire to activate the new backup lights.
I'm still waiting to hear if you have power for all of the connections ?
Remember I am posting on the way I would handle this situation, I am not RonD or anywhere as methodical as he is, can't replace RonD.
Last edited by Scrambler82; May 16, 2020 at 11:25 AM.
Well you need the bed wiring harness and the 3 bulb taillight housings from, 1993-1999 Ranger, or 1994-2009 Mazda S-series
OR
You can get a 3 wire to 2 wire converter and use what you have, these are used for trailer hook ups, so fairly weather proof
Reverse lights are done for either, no change over the years so no need to be part of discussion, has separate bulb
And Park lights are also done, brown wire, goes to its own filament, so no change needed
That leaves us with 3 wires on "frame" side to 2 wires on light side
On the 2000 and up Rangers the multi-function switch was used to combine turn and brake to 1 wire for each side, you can't do that since your multi-function switch is not wired for it and that would be more trouble than its worth to try and rewire it for 2000 Ranger multi-function switch
Which leaves you with new bed wiring harness and 3 bulb lens' or a converter
The converter does what 2000 multi-function switch does
Converter has 3 wires IN, brake, left turn and right turn, and then 2 wires OUT, left and right
When brakes are on both OUTs have 12v
When a turn signal is on that sides brake 12v is cut off and turn signal flash is use on 1 of the OUTs
Its not a complicated circuit
Google: trailer wiring 3 to 2 wire
Make sure it is 3 to 2, NOT 2 to 3, they make both kinds
Since you have all the parts now to do the 2 wire setup and the converters are not expensive, I think you should look at doing it this way
You can keep an eye out for stock Mazda B-series tail lights and wiring harness and then switch to the 3 bulb setup so its Stock, the 3 to 2 wire converter can still be used for trailer hook up so not a waste of money
And just a heads up, dual filament bulbs have 1 filament that is brighter than the other, the lower wattage(dimmer) filament is for the Park light, brighter is for brake/turn
Thanks Ron, I just bought some ebay 3 bulb housings and 2 sockets for the turn signal. like 50 bux total. might try to cancel here if the converters are that cheap
Don't forget wire harness, you can make your own, just more work, but only 1 more wire needed on each side to get the 4 wires, reverse, park, brake and turn, there are 3 of them now
