tail light doesnt't work

[mitown]

I have a 1995 Ford Ranger and both tail lights don't work. The brake, reverse and 4 way's all work. I checked all the fuses and none were blown. Anybody have any ideas on what may be the problem

 

[martin]

don't take offence but did you chack the bulbs?

 

[mitown]

yeah the bulbs are definitely good because the brake light works and the brake and tail lights are the same bulb

 

[mn_smokeater]

don't take offence but did you chack the bulbs?

could be it but isnt the bulb used for everything but the back uplights? a short in a wire maybe? or a bad ground?

 

[Ronv]

The brake?tail light bulbs have two filaments. The brake light could work however the tail light might be burned out. I would not suspect ground since it is the same for both filaments.

 

[mitown]

i just bought new bulbs so that isn't it.

 

[mn_smokeater]

ahh thats right i forgot that they could have that in taillights. it would make sense that the one could have burnt out before the other being it would be used more often id think. did you touch the bulb with bare skin being i know that on household ones the oils can burn out the bulb. but if that were to be the case why would only one filamint blow?

 

[Nhaz]

One of the more common problems with tail lights acting oddly(other then the obvious burnt bulbs) is if you have a plug for a trailer. The connection between the tail lights and the harness for the plug tends to rot out after awhile causing either shorts intermittent grounds or just breaks the circuit.

 

[TRX501RYAN]

One of the more common problems with tail lights acting oddly(other then the obvious burnt bulbs) is if you have a plug for a trailer. The connection between the tail lights and the harness for the plug tends to rot out after awhile causing either shorts intermittent grounds or just breaks the circuit.

Id check that as well... caused me the same prob in my 95 splash


The plug is located on the drivers side tail 3 way conector, take it out and replug the two wires to see if thats your problem, a replacement is about 30-50$

 

[v8nick]

Did you figure this out? I have the exact same problem.

 

[master hec0]

i had a similar issue with my b2 on the signal light. i replaced the bulb because the filament for the marker had burnt out but when i changed it the marker worked but the signal flasher didnt. turns out i had the bulb in the wrong way. i dont know if you can do this on the 3rd gens but i would check that out.

 

[adsm08]

Do the FRONT markers work? If not then it might be the switch, or a bad wire before the splice.

 

[bmonee5]

+1 on the trailer harness....this happened to me it kept blowing a fuse and all my lights would go dead. Granted mine was a 83 ranger but definately check it out.