Non-Working Tail Lights and Interior Lights

[jus10willi]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post, but I just can't find the answer that I'm looking for anywhere else.
I have an 83 K10 that the tail, parking, & courtesy light will not work on. When I got the truck everything worked fine. I was riding down the road and was informed my tail lights were not working. I checked the fuse and did have a blown fuse. I replaced the fuse and made it 20 miles or so and they were out again. I had assumed that the fuse had blow again, and figured I had a loose wire or bad ground.

I have re-worked the grounds, checked fuses and wiring, have good power coming in to the bulkhead fitting on the fire wall, and replaced the head light switch. I am getting good power to the main power on the headlight switch. Head lights work as they should, but I have no tail lights, parking lights, or dash lights. I can jump power to the wires on the back of the H/L Switch and get parking lights/Dash / tail lights. The fuse does not have power until I jump the wire (I'm not sure if it should have constant or if it feeds from the switch), but if I jump to the fuse all lights come on. I am at the end of my rope on this, and I'm sure it's something simple, but I have gotten too deep and can't see the forest from the trees. Oh yeah I'm on my second new switch.

Any similar experiences? Do the lights Receive power from the light switch? I could rig it up, but really don't want to.

Thanks in advance

[Captkaos]

This comes up a lot.  First question is, do you have a factory or aftermarket radio and what do the wires look like under the dash?

[jus10willi]

It's aftermarket, but I went ahead and wired it direct. Only the the remote wire is hooked up to fuse panel to work off of the ignition. Most of the wiring looks pretty good under the dash, but there are a few plastic boxes that I don't know what they are. I'll check this afternoon for any unattended wires let over for the factory unit.

[bd]

Look through this previous thread:  No dash lights, tail lights, or park lights

If it's blowing fuses or fusible links, you have a bigger issue that needs to be addressed.  Let us know how it goes and whether you need assistance.

[jus10willi]

The orange wires coming off of the headlight switch were bad. They were showing correct voltage, but the wire must be damaged in the harness somewhere, because they would not supply enough amps to make any lights come on. I wired the the orange wires into another hot wire and everything is working fine. I even had a brake light showing on the dash and it is gone now?