The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 1950 3100 brake lights

Right side brake light does not light.. Left and right brake lights have separate wires running the length of the the truck. I see 2 wires on the brake light switch which is mounted inside the engine compartment. The depressed foot brake pedal allows the the light switch to send current to the brake lights. I have traced the right side wire to a junction abut 3/4 of the way forward. No voltage. The switch turns the left side on but not the right side...
I'm stumped as to what I should try now. Switch? Wire? The left brake light works. Rear running lights work and signals work.. Just the right side brake.

The problem is more than likely in the turn signal switch. Search turn signal wiring diagrams to understand how they work.

Mike B

And never under estimate a bad ground. I ran independent ground wires to all my lights from a dedicated ground connection box I installed on my ‘57 3200.

Several makes and styles of aftermarket turn signal switches were available back in the day. Some connected the turn signals, brake lights and parking lights with as many as 8 wires. How many wires are coming from the switch? What make/brand is it?

There is an old tech tip from Cletus about trouble shooting aftermarket turn signal switches, etc. Maybe it will be useful.
https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/turn_signal.htm

Thank all of you for your responses. I need to study them and start sorting out the problem. What I have done so far probably doesn't make sense. There were 2 wires in addition to the power wire that could reach the outgoing switch terminal so made a split there. The other switch terminal had the power wire attached. Underneath the truck there were 2 wires that could join the brake wire to the taillights. Anyway, using the wiring diagram I need to sort out the miscellaneous wires.
I use a short strck to keep the brake pedal depressed when checking lights. I made a split here. Both brake lights work when the pedal is depressed. The parking lights work f and r The left turning signals work f and r. When the right turning signals are activated both the left and right rear signals blink.. The right front blinks only while both rear turn signals blink. As I said i need ro go back and sort using the wiring diagram.

2 wires connect to the switch located in the engine compartment.

Check the ground on both rear lights.

George