I just purchased a 2000 E250 for $1000. The previous owner spliced in trailer wiring to the left tail light wiring harness. Long story short, the tail lights do not work. Do you think I could get away with only replacing the second half of the wiring harness? The headlights work and the overhead light work. The light in the instrument cluster is out. I read somewhere that these things might be correlated? You seem to know what you are doing so I figured I would ask. What do you think?
Hey there! Electrical gremlins can be really tricky. I have also read about seemingly random issues popping up with rear lighting, but it sounds like that is mostly on the F-series trucks (3rd brake light fails then no crank /no start, for example). You might have connected issues but the simplest solution is usually the answer. I bet some of the connections are bad where the trailer wiring was spliced in. Do you have a multimeter? I would start by checking the taillight bulbs, then see if the fixtures are getting power but not lighting up, which would indicate a bad ground wire. Methodically check each wire and connection. I bet you find your problem that way.
Didn’t even think to use the multimeter on the sockets. Mainly because they were fried or at least looked fried. But so did some of the fuses and they were good so that probably would’ve help with diagnosing. Thanks for the tip!
Do you planning to change the body mount in your van?
Yes, eventually. I will probably tackle that when I rebuild the suspension and lift or convert it to 4x4.
Just bought a 2000 today, my rust is worse, thanks for vid.
Good luck! It's definitely work to repair. I have some body rust to fix still but the interior is good now.
I just purchased a 2000 E250 for $1000. The previous owner spliced in trailer wiring to the left tail light wiring harness. Long story short, the tail lights do not work. Do you think I could get away with only replacing the second half of the wiring harness? The headlights work and the overhead light work. The light in the instrument cluster is out. I read somewhere that these things might be correlated? You seem to know what you are doing so I figured I would ask. What do you think?
Hey there! Electrical gremlins can be really tricky. I have also read about seemingly random issues popping up with rear lighting, but it sounds like that is mostly on the F-series trucks (3rd brake light fails then no crank /no start, for example).
You might have connected issues but the simplest solution is usually the answer. I bet some of the connections are bad where the trailer wiring was spliced in.
Do you have a multimeter? I would start by checking the taillight bulbs, then see if the fixtures are getting power but not lighting up, which would indicate a bad ground wire. Methodically check each wire and connection. I bet you find your problem that way.
Didn’t even think to use the multimeter on the sockets. Mainly because they were fried or at least looked fried. But so did some of the fuses and they were good so that probably would’ve help with diagnosing.
Thanks for the tip!