Did I wire this turn signal pigtail incorrectly?

[Paisano]

I have a 92' Ford Ranger XLT with 2.9 V6. Earlier this year, I crimped on a new left front turn signal/parking lamp connector since I was having lighting issues. Ever since, the left turn signal is diminished and flashes erratically only when the headlights are turned on. Also, the left turn signal indicator inside the truck lights up but does not flash.

If the headlights are turned off, the left front turn signal functions normally. I am thinking I may have wired the pigtail connector incorrectly. The 3-wire pigtail is only black wires, while the
truck wire bundle colors are black, brown, and light green with white stripe.

Today, I removed the right front turn signal connector. I drew a diagram of the left/center/right positions of the color-coded wires on the connector....as viewed from the back of the connector opposite the bulb side. A couple questions please.

1. Are the color-coded wire positions on the right front connector the same as the left front connector? If so, I could re-wire the left to match the right.

2. If in doubt, can I experiment with mating different wires while testing the turn signal.....or will that short out something?

I can already see the wiring order I crimped on the left connector does not match the right connector which functions normally.

 

[RonD]

The truck harness will be
Brown wire Park Light
Black wire common ground for both filaments
The other color is for turn signal on that side

Turn signal is usually the brighter of the two filaments

Because all 3 wires are black on replacement unit you will need an OHM meter to find out which one is the GROUND for both filaments
Once you have that hook it up to Black truck wire

Then turn on park light switch, touch Brown wire to each of the other wires, one at a time, the dimmer one is for the Park light hook that up
That just leaves the turn, hook that up

What you have now is wrong wire as the ground

 

[Paisano]

I can't just wire it same as right side connector?

If not, do I just buy an auto ranging digital multi meter with probes? I have little experience with multi meters
But if I buy one it would be used for house and vehicle. I'm not a tradesman. But I do all my own repairs.

 

[RonD]

Yes, its wired the same as the other side but you said there are no different wire colors, just 3 black wires

 

[Paisano]

Let me explain a little better.

The left front pigtail I crimped in earlier this year has the 3 solid black wires. But the factory truck wire bundle has the same color coded wires for both left front and right front turn signal/parking lamps.

And the right front turn signal still has the original color-coded wiring connected directly to the connector. I drew a diagram of the color-coded wires connected to the right front turn signal connector. I can crimp the left front pigtail black wires to the correct-coded vehicle wires.... same as right front side ................am I correct?

But I am still going to look at multi-meters tomorrow.

 

[RonD]

Truck's black wire is the Ground
Brown is the Park light
These are the same front and back, left or right

Left and right turn signals have different colored wires, at all 4 corners

Green/white wire left front turn
White/blue wire right front turn

--------------------------------------

Green/orange left rear
Orange/blue right rear

Rear also has light green wire for brake lights
Black/Pink wire for Reverse lights

 

[Paisano]

Yeah Ron, I was curious about the right front using the white/blue wire. I saw that in the 92' Ranger wiring diagram. When I looked at the right front yesterday, it was light green with the white stripe. Maybe it was faded from old age. Since this was wired incorrectly all these months, I'm going to buy another pigtail connector before I rewire it.

I'm going to read up on multi-meter use and shop for one today. I need to get this wiring mistake fixed. I might not get this done for several days if I need to buy a few items. Do you mind checking this discussion periodically if I have more questions?

 

[Paisano]

Ron, I'm curious about something. How were you able to determine that brown, black, and light green truck bundle wires are for parking lamp, ground and turn signal respectively? I did not find this in my Chilton manual. Did you learn figure this out with your multi-meter?

 

[RonD]

Ford has used a Brown wire for Parking lights since Ford first had Parking lights, lol
Well maybe not that long but since I was a boy and working on Fords they have always been Brown wires
Ford did change to a Grey wire in 2005 or so, I guess they just ran out of Brown wire

Exterior Lights always use a Black wire as the Ground, not true elsewhere, but for exterior lights, Black wire is the ground

Green/white wire for front left turn is from a Ranger wiring diagram
Same for right front turn being a white/blue wire

Chilton's or Hayes manuals usually don't have specifics for all wiring

You can go to local library and get a card and set up a PIN number, so you can log into library website from home, well anywhere
They will have an automotive repair section, that has Specific wiring diagrams for ANY vehicle back to the 1940's
You can download and/or print what you need

 

[Paisano]

Ok. Thanks. I'm picking up the Klein model MM400 multi-meter this week. I'll do some reading and see if I can figure out how to use it to isolate the ground wire on the new pigtail connector I'm also buying.

 

[Paisano]

Ron, I should have a multi-meter soon. How do I indentify the ground wire on the pigtail connector using ohms? Where do I touch the probes? I know next to nothing about this.

 

[RonD]

Set the meter to OHMs, ohms have no Polarity, no + or -, so red and black probes don't matter when using OHM on a meter
Touch the two probe tips together and Meter should change to 0 ohms, that tests if meter is working

0 ohms means a direct connection between the 2 probes, also called Continuity
If you put one probe on the end of one wire and the other probe on the other end of that wire and see 0 ohms, that means that wire has Continuity, its not broken, if you saw 500+ ohms that means the wire is corroded, if no change in the meter then wire is broken

Some meters show 1 in the display when you select OHMs, that's not 1 ohm that's No Connection, and some meters show N/C, for no connection

Touch one probe to Battery Negative and the other probe to an unpainted metal body or engine part
Should see 0 ohms or under 5 ohms, depends on the meter, but that means the battery negative has a good connection to that metal part

So OHMs test connections and Resistance between the two probes

On the 3 wire lens unit you will need access to a light bulb, well its metal base the bulb plugs into
One probe on the bulbs metal socket
One probe touch one wire at a time
The wire that shows 0 ohms is the Ground for the bulb

The other 2 wires will show 1.5 to 2.0 ohms, if bulb is in place, that's the resistance of a 12volt light bulb filament, if bulb is out then other wires will be N/C

 

[Paisano]

Wow! It's kind of fascinating. I've done all kinds of do-it-yourself auto repairs. But electricity is the last frontier for me.

Silly question. I do these procedures with the car battery positive and negative terminals disconnected................correct?

And when you say touch the wire.......you mean the bare wire end with insulation removed?

 

[RonD]

When testing OHMs its good to make sure circuit is unpowered, so in a vehicle unhooking the battery is the for sure way
But in this case having the lights off would be fine

Yes, probe needs to touch bare metal of a wire
You can use a sewing needle as well to pierce a wire's insulation so you can test it
You can also get "needle ends" that attach to the end of a probe so you can just push on the insulation of the wire to get a reading
These small punctures don't hurt the insulation or wire

 

[Paisano]

Ok. Thanks. I am currently reading up on multi-tester use and electricity online.

Some people think beginners should start out with cheaper multi-meters, because they might make a mistake and damage the device. Do you agree?

What do you think about Innova 3320 for automotive testing and light household electrical? Or should I spend a little more for the Klein one?