Wire trouble With Signal lights

[Roger]

A couple of years ago my wife and I drove my 1978 Ford F150 Down to our winter home in New Mexico for the winter. I bought a Trailer while down there to haul some things back when we headed back up north for the summer. Well when we left everything was working fine, all the lights were in fine order. On our way back we hit a snow storm on I 40 coming out of New Mexico. Thats when things started to go bad. At first I blew a fuss on my tail and signal lights.. I fixed and all was well for a time, then the fuse blew again, and I replaced it again but now I have no signal lights and when I step on the breaks the four way flasher flashes both tail/signal lights. I have traced wires and I cann't figure out what gives. Any sugestion would be of help. I even replaced the signal switch

 

[DNFXDLI]

I'd start by checking the wiring connections at the lamp sockets and all grounds...if the trailer connections were added, those connections should be checked as well.

 

[TexasNomad]

Grab it and yank!!! as hard as you can, works every time

 

[1985 Ford F-150]

Id check the trailer out as well and see if it has any bare wires or bad grounds. Also check for corrosion in both ends of the trailer plug.

 

[dakonthemountain]

If you hit a storm you may have a water leak somewhere that is shorting out the system also. When you trace the wires be sure to check (as stated by others) for proper grounds. The sockets may also "look fine" but still be shorting out. This happened to me. The dash signal indicator lights would stay on all the time and I had a fit trying to find out why by tracing the wires over and over, checking the grounds, etc. Finally replaced the socket... problem solved.
Good luck!
Dak

 

[LEB Ben]

Quick suggestion, wiggle around your emergency flasher toggle. If it's pulled a little too far out or pushed too far in, your signals won't work and your signal indicators will be solid when you hit your breaks. Might be a bad flasher fuse too. But as others said, start with the trailer wiring...that usually has a bunch of gremlins in it. Then I usually just go ahead and replace sockets.