I just picked up a 1994 Ranger v6 3.0 2wd and unfortunately have zero tail light illumination. No brake lights, no tail lights, no turn indicators, no reverse lights, and no license plate lights. One other thing is the passenger side turn indicator light stays solid while the driver side will blink. All fuses look good, but some might be missing, who ever had it before had the fuses kinda wonky, I have included a before and after picture of the interior fuse box. I also replaced the headlight switch as I wasn't getting instrument panel lights either.

Before picture, I think they ran that extra line for lights on the roof? the lights are no longer there though.

After picture. As close to stock as I have seen.

Under hood fuse box

I am probably missing some stuff but would that affect the rear lights?

I looked underneath and all wiring looked good, up to the spare tire area (no spare either) and I used a voltage detector and there was no voltage at the tail light so I assume the bulbs are ok.

Am I missing anything on the fuses? I have a haynes manual on the way, and I guess I should check voltage at the fuse box, but which one would be all rear lighting?

 

Welcome to the forums

I have a 1994 Ranger so have some diagrams

 

And these

If a light comes on when another light was selected then it is usually a Bad ground at the selected light
The selected light is getting its Ground THRU the other light making it light up

Never ASSUME
Test light bulbs, FIRST, and then look at the wiring.
Yes, what are the odds brake, park and turn bulbs are ALL burned out.....................well odds ain't 0, lol, so.................

Same for fuses, a fuse needs to be tested, "looks good" is a description for a lady, NOT a fuse

 

Huh? There is no illumination on rear lights when they should be lit. I didn’t say anything about other lights being illuminating instead. No lights are lit that shouldn’t be, only lights that are unlit when they should be.

 

The only thing ALL the lights in the back have in common, is they all share the same ground wire.

 

I was referencing this

Maybe you were saying when you select passenger side turn signal it doesn't blink, but when you select drivers side light blinks?

If so, a Flasher works by heat, when you turn on the turn signals the amp LOAD from the 3 bulbs(front, rear, dash) causes the flasher to heat up, which causes it to disconnect inside and lights go off, then it cools and reconnects so lights come back on, then it heats up again.............ect, so flashing lights
Slow or no flashing usually means a bulb is burned out
When you hook up trailer lights you will usually see faster flashing because there is an extra bulb now, so it heats up faster

People that installed LED bulbs often got No Flashing, because amp LOAD was less, flasher didn't get hot enough

 

Yeah that’s what I mean, the passenger side front blinker stays solid while the drivers side front blinks, seems slower than most as well. Separate issue than the no rear lights.

I noticed what what I assume is a ground, a wire screwed directly into the drivers side floorboard. The wire was broken, so that’s something else I can reconnect.

 

I believe that is the ground connection for the back lights, and would explain why none of them work.

 

ok looking over the wiring diagram I noticed it listed a fuse that my other chart said wasn't used so I had left it empty. I threw in a 15a fuse and the drivers side tail lights worked. I took off the passenger side (I had only taken off the drivers side assembly before) and all the sockets were missing, the wires cut. So I have probably solved my issues, just need to replace the sockets. Thank you all for all of your help!

 

Good work

Thank for the update

 

This is crap!

 

Thats not rodent chewed, thats human cut

Wonder what the thinking was on that..............................

You have the 1994 wiring diagram so you can splice and extend the wires

LMC truck shows that 1993-1997 Rangers used the same lenses
1993 to 2000 the same sockets

Info here: Truck Parts and Truck Accessories