Hey guys the other night I was trying to dislodge a broken license plate bulb. I made a mistake of doing this with the truck on and lights on and think i cause a short. Saw a spark put a new bulb in the license plate light socket but it wouldn't turn on. Also my tail lights only come on when I step on the brake even with the headlights on and my dash lights went out. Checked some 7.5 fuses but they looked good. Any thoughts?

 

Check your fuse box.
It may be a blown fuse.

 

What year Ranger and may be we can .look up the fuse #

 

2003 Ford ranger
has nearly no options

 

2003 Ranger, taillights and license plate bulbs are powered by Fuse #33 in Engine fuse box, its 15amp

Battery-------fuse #33--------------main light switch------------(brown wires)--------------------light bulbs

Ford uses a Brown wire(since God was a boy) for all parking lights

Many people splice into this Brown wire for trailer lights, and can weaken the connection so instead of a short blowing the fuse, it "blows" the splice connection
So have a look under the rear of the truck to see if trailer light connection was added