Trailer lights not working consistently

[joshlee]

My trailer lights work sometimes, sometimes not and was thinking that the problem was in the connection that plugs into my truck circuit. After checking things with the test light and multimeter I think now that the problem is that the light boxes are not getting the proper ground, so I'm going to take the grinder to the angle iron where the light boxes attach and see if that solves the problem? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for reading!

 

[Diamondpilot]

That is a good plan. Use dielectric grease to stave off rust and corrosion.

Another option is to run dedicated grounds back to a common point.

Chris

 

[Clint S]

Ground, ground, ground. Many issues with trailer lights are ground related. There should be a spot on the box to ground the socket assembly to the frame.

 

[newbury]

I would agree ground is USUALLY the problem BUT

I had similar problems, I bought one of the 7 blade testers. Finally figured out that one of the blades in the connector on the truck side was broke and making intermittent connections.

 

[jaotguy]

Use dielectric grease to stave off rust and corrosion.Chris

No ... not dielectric ... it inhibits the connection ...

use the heat sink grease for computer CPU's ... or a real thick regular grease ....

still best to run separate grounds to each light and avoid any further problems ... :thumbsup:

 

[boggen]

i end up re wiring all trailer lights. so the have the (tail, single, break light, etc...) wire going to them. and then i run a ground wire right next to it. to many issues with not getting a good ground through the frame. the time spent trying to get good ground through frame vs some cost of wire and running a ground wire to all lights. i end up saving time and cash, running ground wire to all lights. makes it easier to use multi meter as well.

 

[joshlee]

Thanks guys! I definitely didn't know until now that ground problems are a common thing on trailers, so I will run grounds and put some heavy red grease at the boxes. Thanks again everyone.

 

[joshlee]

I just wanted to let everyone know I took your advise and that the trailer lights work great now!