Rear brake light wiring with fuse?

[dorling]

Hello,

I recently got into an accident that led to my rear driver side brake light assembly getting tore outta the body. Upon inspection and prep to replace the assembly, I noticed more wiring than I would've expected, including a fuse. Is this normal?

I tend to go thru an alternator and battery yearly and have begun to suspect my truck has an electrical gremlin or two, so I'm curious if this is a potential culprit. The truck is completely stock as far as I know. Nothing is connected to the battery except the main battery cables. I know the first owner used to tow it behind a camper so maybe all this was to hook up lighting and blinkers. I dunno.

 

[franklin2]

The factory never would have put a fuse back there. I think you are correct, added wiring for being towed.

P.S. None of that stuff in the pictures looks stock.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Yikes!

They had some wizardry stuff going on there. Likely with one vehicle having separate brake and turn bulbs and the other that shares a single bulb. Kinda looks like there is more then just that going on too.

I think I would carefully take all that stuff outta there and clean up the factory wiring. Dont get yourself in there testing any of that mess it will just confuse ya. Then see what you have.

You probably want to pull the other side and see what's going on over there. Then slide under the truck and inspect where the rear lamp harness connects to the main harness. Look there for add on trailer lamp harness. That connection gets all the road splash... mud...salt and its a common failure area.

 

[SenorNoob]

Looking at that, I'd consider trying to find a stock light harness in the junkyard. That's a mess

 

[pjtoledo]

did it ever have a cap?
third brake light on caps need an adapter/module that splices into the rear harness.

 

[dorling]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions everyone. Good call on the cap. I've never had one, but that's a likely culprit for sure. Guess I got some cleanup to do... hopefully it's just this one side. fingers crossed.