Several months ago, someone noticed a tail light issue. When I put my foot on the brake, the right tail light would go out. Yet it would stay on if my foot wasn't on the brake, or the full lighting system was on.

Changing the bulb did not help this issue at all. The bulb housing is rotten, it needs to be replaced and re-wired. But that's not the problem.

Earlier in the week, after all was said and done with the storm we had, I noticed even more trouble. At first it seemed minor, but over the last few days, it's become dangerous.

My right headlight does not work when the full lighting system is on, however, it does work with the running system, so I don't bother with the full system even at night. The daytime lights seem sufficient enough and I've never been pulled over because of them.

But the other day, my clock light started flickering when I touched the brake. It would dim out, then go back to full light when I took my foot off the brake.

When I turn on my dash lights while using the daylight running lights, the dash lights flicker with turn signals, as does the clock. But the left turn signal will go solid, it will not flash when the dash light is on. So I can't drive in the dark and see my gauges if I have to have the dash lights off.

I noticed yesterday, and this is the last straw for me, the turn lights under my headlights are giving me trouble. Seeing the reflection of them, they are on when I'm on the brake, but off when I take my foot off the brake.

I went into the engine fuse box yesterday, seemed like all the fuses were loose, and I pressed them all back in. That didn't help anything.

Any ideas or is the wiring completely shot?

 

Sounds like a grounding issue. Check and clean your ground connections.

 

I took a quick glance at the wires earlier, they look fine, but the battery ports are all gunked up. We're going to take the cables off and clean the ports to see if that happens.

 

I doubt the wiring is shot, wiring dont just "wear out" it can corrode, mice eat insulation, or if it rubs somewhere etc (not if its routed right)
could be the turn signal switch in the dash its the only place in the truck that all the marker lights are "connected" to each other, being the marker bulbs are dual filament the same bulb lights up for brake turn signal and parking lights.
one filament within the bulb does both brake and turn signal. meaning the same wire feeds "that side" of the bulb the difference is where the signal to light it comes from (brake pedal or turn signal switch)

 

How can there be a multi system failure though?

Right tail light, both front signal lights, clock and dash lights? And only the front left turn signal has issues when I turn the full lighting system on.

 

I mean look at where the light harnesses are grounded to the body and stuff like that. Grounds can be ok until you add more load, then break connection. If you have more than one ground wire on the same stud or screw, one circuit can ground through another, which can cause all sorts of strange symptoms. For example, my right headlight used to go dim when I honked the horn. Cleaning up the ground connection on the fender fixed it right up.

 

because this is where they "all come together" if there's a loose connection within the switch it will mess up everything it controls, have run into this before on several older Dodges...

 

I'm going to call my mechanic tomorrow, see if I can get the truck in to get that looked at.

 

gonna cost ya way more than need be to take it to your mechanic,
in this case being I cant see your truck from here to do anything about it

when people would come in to me for service and I pointed ut something wrong with their vehicle and they would say "OK I will take it to my mechanic" (instead of lettin me/or someone in our shop fix it) used to **** ME OFF BAD.

I am my own mechanic. Nobody touches my truck but me.
There isn't alot of tests that can be made to the turn sig switch that is one of those things you would have to plug in a "known good" (notice I didnt say new) one and try it. but as was said I have run into what you are describing before. now if you said front lights work/backs dont or something like that I would say different but given what you gave me to work with I would certainly start with taht T/S switch, and no you will not have to remove the steering wheel to get at it.

 

There's been other good postings on the other items, but I'd like to address this.

THIS - can easily be due to a bad ground for that one light (when the brake is off, the right tail filament in the bulb grounds through the brake light circuit - but when you apply the brakes, both sides are 12V, so no voltage drop to light the bulb with.)

I will add that before you do MUCH, I'd suggest grabbing a full service manual (hint: Haynes and Chilton are NOT full service manuals, although they're nice duffer books) from Helm Inc. or off Ebay.

RwP