The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Rear Tail lite wiring / Fuel Problem

I recently changed out my taillights from 2 separate lighting units on each side to the original units with all in one unit on each side. However before doing so I never marked any of the wires....which wires go to which? And is a ground needed anywhere or does the bo to frame count as the ground?

Another trouble...when starting my 50 chev 1/2 ton I need to pump the living dickens out of it to start it...what is my problem...the carb has been cleaned up and I put in a new fuel pump and have a clean gas tank...I do not have a choke or throttle cable hooked to it however I don't think this carb is the old original...I have a 57 235 in my truck currently...any tips?

Anyone in Canada wanna sell a cheap rear bumper or radio...for this truck?

Hi citypat, You did not mention if you have directionals on your truck. If you do, and you reduced the number of filaments in the rear, you may need to change to a different type of directional switch. A 4 wire switch requires a filament dedicated to the directionals. A seven wire switch will allow a filament to be shared between the brake and directional. The parking light always needs it own filament no matter which style directional switch you use...

As for what goes where, get yourself a test light. One step at a time, turn on the parking lights and directionals, step on the brakes and test each wire one at a time..

I am not sure what else you plan to do to your truck. It is good to get in the habit of marking things when you take them apart, it saves lots of trouble down the road..

If the light housings are bolted cleanly to the frame that can serve as the ground. A continuity tester will tell for sure whether the housings are grounded..

As for the fuel, you mentioned that you don't have the choke cable hooked up. Did you close the choke plate in the carburetor manually before you started to crank it ? It will take a loooooong time to start that motor if the choke is wide open..

As for the cheap rear bumper or the radio, post those needs in the Swap Meet section before the Swap Meet Police grab you, lol...

There are 2 main wires that feed the back from the front of the truck, which looks like 1 serves the signal lite and the other one serves the brake / park lites or at least that is my guess...the one that serves the brake/park lites was split int two more feeds...so inessence there are 3 wires that need to hook up to 2 wires that are in the tail lite...now which wires go where? I guess I will take out my circuit tester that I don't know a lot about and see what comes of that...

Any tips on how to hook up a choke/throttle cable? There never was one hooked up when I bought it....

Wiring involves a little patience and a little logic. Think this through and I am sure you get the lights working..

Parking lites are always on their own circuit. One wire cannot serve brake and park lites..

One wire can control brake and directional lights if you have a seven wire directional switch..

If you own an old truck, it is time to learn how to use a circuit tester..

You do not really need a throttle cable to make the truck run but a choke cable is needed. You do not mention if the choke cable is on the truck.. If it is, it needs to be hooked to the choke linkage on the carb. Adjust it so that when the knob is pushed in the choke plate is open. When the knob is pulled out the choke plate should be closed tightly..

So here's my problem I got my circuit tester working now...
I have an 1156 and a 63 bulb in each taillite. The turn light appears to be the 63 light which is the bottom bulb. The parking lites appear to be the 1156 bulb which is the top bulb. No problem except...the passenger's side 1156 works fine but the driver's side 1156 won't light up even when I take my tester it shows the bulb is getting power. Can i not have 2 bulbs on the same wire? Or what is my problem, and yes both 1156 bulbs are good..I am guessing that the pigtail is grounding out or something when the builb is placed in it yet when you place the tester on the pigtail it shows power?? Baffled and confused?? :rolleyes:

Swap bulbs. If the problem stays on the driver's side, you most likely will need to add a dedicated ground wire (a good idea even if you don't have this problem). They used to ground through the housing, but half a century of dirt, rust, vibration, and human interference can alter the path of electrons.

I swapped bulbs and no difference yet the 63 on the bottom of the driver's side works?? So the driver's tail lite is grounded to the frame isn't it?? However the 1156 doesn't work on the driver's top??Here's my puzzle?? Doesn't make sense even when I tak, e a circuit tester to it as a ground it does not light(just to double check if it indeed is the ground problem??) up??? I really am having a hard time figuring this one out...

Citypat, the lights you bought should have color coded wires. The brown is tail/parking. The green and yellow are turn/brake, green is right, yellow is left turn. Ground could be white or black. If you have a red wire it is probably brake lights. If ya don't use a seperate bulb for brake lights ya won't need the red. I don't know if you have turn signals. The kind of signal switch you have makes a diffrence too. With turn/stop using the same element the turn lights need to be split (front & rear) at the switch or your front turn lights will come on with brake application. I wired up a 69 Chevy like that many years ago. I was in a hurry and didn't take time to sort things out. A ground for each light is a good idea, IMHO. Good luck. Mike

citypat, when checking for power I run a jumper wire to the neg post of the battery to ground my test light. That way I know I have good ground. If you don't have known good ground for the test light you may have power where you are checking and not know it. Keep after it, you'll get there. Mike

I can try that but I don't think that is the problem as one light works therefore there is a ground to that light system. I ran a wire direct from the tail lite fuse box and this doesn't even make it work , thus I am guessing that somehow my pigtail must be grounding out or something. Yet when you touch the pigtail there is power there yet when you place the bulb in it won't light up.This is my dilemna....

You have two sockets in one housing, correct? Are you dead certain that both sockets are grounding to that housing? I'd be willing to bet you're not closing the circuit in the dual-filament socket; try poking the side of the bulb with a grounded test light when the pigtails are hot. If the bulb lights up, it's a bad ground. If not, perhaps the contact points on the pigtail are worn or broken so they don't touch the bulb at all? Perhaps the socket is worn where the bulb's retaining pins should seat?

citypat, it still could be a ground problem. You can run a jumper from the neg post of the battery and use that to ground that light. See what ya get then. Sometimes a circut will try to go to ground through the power side of another circut. When ya see the marker/tail lights dim (or come on dim) when a turn lamp is flashing, that is caused by a turn lamp trying to ground through the tail lights. Most lighting/elecrtical problems are caused by poor grounds. If the grounds aren't right you will have problems. And they will seem to be weird problems. Mike

Citypat, one thing I haven't seen suggested here yet would be to check the light socket itself... sounds wierd, but the ground travels through the socket into the lightbulb through its body. Also check that the spring under the contact in the socket is pushing up properly (enough tension) to keep the bulb tightly seated in its socket. Just this exact problem (combined with a poor ground) gave me fits a few weeks ago at work :mad: :rolleyes: :o

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Wannabe

What did I just say?

hello citypat. i just went through the same thing that wannabe suggests. power was going to the little posts inside the bulb socket, but the bulb would not light because the connection where the bracket was bolted to the pickup box was rusty and painted![not grounded properly] and the connection between the bracket and the light housing was rusty and painted![ not grounded properly]. both areas needed to be cleaned to the bare metal before the housing and the light socket was properly grounded. and now the bulb will light, but i am still going to run another ground wire from the frame to the light housing to prevent future troubles. i hope that after you get the socket and housing working properly that you can figure out which hot wire goes where. i assume you are using a two wire socket and a dual filament bulb on each side. expose the two wires coming from the socket. with the light switch in the parking light position, find the wire coming from the front that is hot, and connect it to one of the wires from the socket. one of the filaments should light up.[one is dim, the other is bright]. connect this hot wire to the one that lights the dim filament.that should take care of your parking/running light on that side. now do the same routine on the directional/brake light.turn off the parking lights. turn on the directional switch[on the side of the car you are working] or the brake switch and find the hot wire coming from the front. connect that wire to the other wire coming from the socket. the directional/brake light should work and light the bright filament of the bulb. i hope this helps. good luck.

Never got a chance to work on it last nite, however I am using a single filament bulb(1156) and a 63 in the bottom < am I supposed to be using a dual filament where the 1156 presently sits the top bulb? I will have to check the grounding I guess I am just flustered when I take my tester and place it on the pigtail and see that I am completing the circuit, yet the light when placed in the socket doesn't light up...but you guys are giving some good routes to check...either I have a bad connection at my posts on the light itself or I have a poor ground as my truck was just painted so possibly that is part and parcel of the problem at hand, I hope to get another kick at the cat after school today...thanks for all the tips guys!

If there are two contacts at the bottom of the light socket, I imagine a single-filament (and contact) bulb wouldn't work very well. As has been mentioned before, check the inside of the socket itself and the contact for paint and corrosion. Good contact is the key.

Hedge-my apologies, I was about 3/4 asleep when I posted last night, just kinda glossed over the previous posts. Didn't mean to step on your toes or offend you.

Regards,
Wannabe

Well last nite I started changing over the 1156 sockets to the new 1157 sockets...wow those are sure a headache to get out!! Only managed to get 1 out...will work on the other tonite....thanks for all the posts guys!!