truckmama11

Rear lights stopped working the other night, but brake lights are working. I have checked the fuses and they are all intact..need some suggestions before I have to go a mechanic..

flamehead16

you mean the daytime running lights? if the brakes work and the DRL dont you have a blown bulb. the 3157 is a dual filament bulb and the DRL part is blow. a new bulb will fix it

jhelrey

Agree on bulb

Legendsk

I disagree on bulb. OP said "lights" quit working and they aren't in series. Fuses checked good, so it has to be wiring that affects both(?) bulbs. Assuming "rear lights" include everything except the brake lights that still work, then the license plate lights also went out. This all sounds like 1) a bad ground connection on that circuit [I don't think all of those lights have only 1 ground point.] or 2) the wire coming from the fuse box / switch has been broken somewhere.

I believe there is 1 wire to one of the tail light connectors and from there over to the license plate lights and on to the other tail light. If all of these are out, surely the power was lost before the connection to the first tail light?

Easy enough to check with a VOM and see if one side of any of the lights is grounded or when the lights are turned on, is either side +12v.

Of these 2 possibilities, the most likely to me is that a wire under the truck got snagged on something and pulled in two, or unplugged a connector along the way.

Autofair Truck Parts

do you headlights work? and high beems?

truckmama11

I have replaced headlight switch, check all wires, checked bulbs, and fuses...need to check ground connecter. Where is this connected? (I am still learning about trucks..) Thanks for the helpful replies!

truckmama11

yes they do

Autofair Truck Parts

if it help, i had 2 F150 that the brake lights did not work and i replaced the blinker switch/wiper switch on the colum and that solved my proble both times.

Legendsk

If you have the Tow package or the MaxTow package, the place I would start are the trailer connector(s). The flip cover should have the pin out embossed on it. You should be able to use that to find the ground wire. measure between it and a bare metal point on the frame. Make sure you aren't measuring to a bolt head that is coated or a painted surface, and of course not a chrome plated plastic part. See what color(s) the ground wire is and then go to the rear of the tail light socket and see if that same color is there. If so, see if it measures no resistance to the frame ground.

If you don't.....
Then with all the lights shut off, see if you can find the ground wire on the rear of the tail-light socket by making sure you have a good ground on one side of the Ohmmeter and with the other probe, move from wire to wire on the socket until you find ground. Measuring through a bulb to ground will look like a low resistance, but more than direct to ground.

There are some threads on here that point to a truck wiring schematic. You may be able to look up the schematic on-line and see what wire colors are for your truck. Give me the year/model of your truck and I'll try to look for them also. I guess I could assume from the name that it is a 2011?

Hope this helps.