Need Help....Wiring trailer lights
 

I replaced the lights on our jet ski trailer and know they don't work. I am getting juice at the wires going into the light but teh light will not come on on either side. It has me totally confused. I am trying to get this ready to take to the lake for this weekend.

BTW, in Missouri, do you have to have trailer lights if you can see the tail lights of the tow vechile? Thanks.

What's a "jet ski"???????????


Sounds like a ground problem. Where are you measuring?

Make sure your gound is good. That's the first thing I always check. Then I would check for corosion in the light sockets themselves.....this would cause them not to work. If this is the case, you might spray some WD-40 on them or put some dioelectric grease on them.

Other then that, I can't think of anything else it could be.

Buck
#183

Ground ....... I say ,I say GROUND.:D

Where is a good place to ground to? We have tried everything. The lights are brand new so corrosion is not a problem. When we run the lights straight off a battery, they work. So they are operating. Keep the ideas coming. This is really starting to piss me off. This should be a simple job. Thanks.

Mpally, on my trailer there is a ground wire on each tail light that is screwed to the trailer chasis. The wire is white. Also the main harness plug up at the tongue of the trailer has a white wire that is screwed to the chasis ground of the trailer frame.

Eric

You should be able to ground the wires straight from the sockets to the trailer itself and thus it will also be connected to the tow vehicle when its hooked up to the hitch.

There is no ground wire coming out of each tail light, just one white wire soming out of the four prong adaptor at the tongue. We treid grounding it to the trailer with no luck. I am wondering if there is a problem with the wiring in the truck. We have never pulled anything with this truck. We are going to be another truck over tomorrow and try it. Hopefully that is the ticket.

Make sure the light is grounded to the trailer frame .It either has a ground wire or there is a metal tab on the mounting area of the light that acts as the ground .

The plug on front should have a white wire . That is the ground . Brown is lights , yellow is left turn and green is right turn .
Try using jumper cables to ground trailer . Hook it on the trailer .Make sure it is a good conection to metal (Not over paint ) .
Hook other end of cable to truck pumper if chrome , (clean metal serface also ) . Or if you have an extra peice of wire ,just touch it to trailer and truck while lights are on . If it works the wire will have a tiny spark when touched . If you have problems e-mail me ,It's what I do ! [email protected] or call 908-782-0688 Good luck ,JOE

Some flat 4 plugs don't have a complete ground wire. They use the hitch grounding through the ball of the truck. You may have to drive a few blocks to knock off the rust and dirt to get a good ground in that case. Boot's suggestion of a jumper wire to test the ground between truck and trailer is good. Especially if none of the lights work on the trailer.

If the problem is in the trucks wiring harness and not a ground problem, then a simple test light will help. Ground it to the truck, and turn on the lights and stick the probe in each pin of the plug to test for power to that pin. Or, you can buy a tester at autoparts stores that slips into the pulg and lights individual lights for each powered wire.

Trailer wiring is a PITA, but is simple to correct with a test light or multi-meter and a systematic approach.

Oh! Use the continunity (sp?) tester on the multimeter to confirm there are no breaks in the wires when you've done everything else.