Tail light wiring help

[raymo1]

Hello. I have a '93 Ford Explorer 4.0 V6 which I imported to Ireland. The problem is that to be road legal it must have amber turn signals. I put on a pair of amber turn signals and re-wired from the original tail light. The problem is that when I brake I have no brake light and the amber turn signals both flash. I know this is because of the direct wiring and was wondering if there is any way to wire this so the red brake light (bulb 3157 dual filament) and turn signal operate independently of each other. I do have running lights operating. I have searched for a replacement Europe legal tail-light but with no success, i think because the Explorere wasn't exported to Europe until later years. Thanks for any help.

 

[mikeinri]

It's hard to tell what you rewired from your description, but here is how I would understand this (ignoring the white reverse lights and wiring):

1. The existing (US) setup has a single bulb with two filaments, in a red lens.

2. One of the filaments serves as running lights.

3. The other filament serves as the brake AND turn/hazard signal.

4. I would expect that there are only two wires coming into the existing housing for this bulb.

The best path forward would be to obtain wiring diagrams from the US version and Euro version, and compare the differences. My guess is that someplace under the hood, you need to find a place to separate the brake circuit from the turn/hazard circuit, and run separate wires back to the lights. You're going to need three wires coming into each light:

1. Running light (common to both sides)

2. Brake light (common to both sides)

3. Turn/hazard signal (each side will be different)

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[raymo1]

re: Brake light problem

Would it be possible to wire the rear top mounted stop light to the dual filament bulb, so when I press the brake pedal all three light up. Any ideas on how to achieve this.

 

[mikeinri]

That's a good point, I hadn't thought about that. I don't know how the 3rd light works when the hazards are on at the same time as the brakes are pressed.

Try it out and let us know.

If the 3rd light stays on (when the hazards are on at the same time as the brakes are pressed), you could find the line feeding the 3rd light and run lines down to each tail light to make the brakes work with that.

Even if this works, I don't know how you're going to deal with the turn signal lines. They will be getting juice when the brakes are applied until you figure out what to disconnect there.

Mike

 

[muhl5443]

sounds to me like a wire got spliced that shouldnt have been. or there is a wire shorting or grounding out along the way.

 

[raymo1]

Seems to be some confusion here. I have attached an alternative set of amber turn signals below the tail lights and took the wire from the dual filament bulb and connected it to these and they work fine. My problem is now that I have no juice going to the brake light as I've used this for the amber turn signals. (I do have running lights as the other wire is still connected to the dual filament bulb). So do you reckon if I run a wire from the top mounted stop light to the dual filament bulb where the original break light wiring was that it would give me brake lights and solve the problem.