This is very different...

Here we have to have amber turn signals on the rear, which means they have to be disassociated from the brake light. My RAM 1500 van, 1999 model, has the brake light on the roof as well as those in each tail light cluster.

When I did this job before on my '87 van, I ran all-new wiring from the front of the van to accomplish what was needed, joining the wiring on the front turn signals to the new lights I fitted at the rear, while I actually installed an extra brake light switch and ran a new wire to the original brake light/turn signal lights at the rear. That all worked well.

So on this van, with the brake light in the roof never being interrupted by the turn signals, I figured that all I needed to do was run a wire from that light to the brake lights in the tail light clusters after having taken the wire from those brake lights and run them to amber globes I fitted in the reversing light section.



That was the first step I took and the turn signals worked fine, but when I hooked up the brake light wire as mentioned, the turn signal globe lit up as well as the brake light, though it flashed when the turn signal was turned on.

What's the fix going to be for this? Do I again have to run separate turn signal wires from the front to the back? Or maybe find a way to rewire the brake lights with a direct line from the brake light switch?

Or am I battling another problem, like something being amiss with the wiring to the tow hitch's connection?

 

I think you need to separate the ground side of the circuits......

 

Yes, I have used the same ground wire for both the turn signal and the brake light...

Or do you mean the ground for the trailer wiring?

It seems I'm no auto electrician...

 

Gave it a fresh ground wire...direct to the body.

The brake light remains on its own ground wire but retains the direct power wire from the light on the roof.

Still the same! The turn signal comes on with the brake light, not flashing, just on.

I then ran a dummy power wire from the front turn signal, that fixed it. But I suspect that if I take away the trailer wiring it might work as previously powered, or am I neglecting something? Maybe I am. Of course I am... the power to the original brake light/turn signal will always get the brake light power when the turn signal is not on, my problem is at the source, I think I have no option but to run wires from the front turn signal wiring right through to the back.

 

Not being able to see the wiring makes it more fun..... If you separate the grounds for turn signals, and brake lites, do they work the way they should. (just the van....)

Or....

If the trailer is NOT plugged in, do the lights work as you want??

 

Trailer wiring is a non-event, as we can't use a 3-wire system here, we have 6-wire systems.

I just have to accept that I need to run wires the length of the van and hook up rear turn signals to the front ones.

With the ground wires separated they don't work as they should. But remember that I'm taking the turn signal wire from the original rear wiring and it includes the brake light.

 

Yeah, those run thru the flasher unit for turn signals, do they not? I think you are correct, gonna need a separate circuit for those. Are the brake lites still gonna flash with the turn signal though?

 

No, I snipped those lines and have taken a separate feed from the light on the roof, which is a full-time brake light.

Don't ask how many nicks and scratches there are on my hands from feeding those wires down, though...

And as I thought, running the wires the length of the van (keeping them from vulnerabilty, out of sight etc) is proving very difficult. I will have to set up wiring for the trailer linkage too, this requires separate wires for each turn signal, brake lights and tail lights as well as an earth. Minimum of five wires.

 

For anyone interested, I got the wiring job done...

Starting with the turn signals at the rear, I sourced an amber globe and its fitting from a damaged Subaru Forester tail light assembly...



...and then duplicated the hole into which it fitted beside the globe for the reversing light...



...and so I had my amber turn signals at the rear.



Then I had to get the power for them from the front of the van as they would only ever work properly if they were divorced from the brake light wire. Taking the power from the turn signal wires at the front, I ran a bit of a loom across the top of the engine bay, actually tucking it in under the plastic cover over the plenum, with a wire joiner to take the power from there via a piece of 3-core wiring through the various nooks and crannies of the van to get it to the back.



But while working at the front end I also did some work with the parking lights, another bit of Subaru fitting was plucked from my pile of spares and the headlight worked to enable it to show as the parking lights: Again, some judicious drilling (step drill used) and filing to get the shape...



...but only after sanding to get a smooth surface there so the O-rings could do their job and keep water out.

Using some LED 'wedge' globes the result was good:



Meanwhile, returning to the rear of the van I had another multi-wire connector to fit up...



...with the added complication of setting in place the wiring for the trailer connector:



Here we have to have at least five wires in the connector - right and left turn signals, brake light, tail light and earth, while I also wired in the reversing lights and there's a wire there (the blue one) for electric trailer brakes should anyone want to fit a controller for these at some time. That took care of the third wire in the 3-wire set from the front, so it's all there should it be needed.

Next I've been tackling the changing of safety belts, which is becoming another saga.

 

Now I've established that the headlights must be changed...

Because of the design of the lenses they will only be usable for driving on the right side of the road. Well, that's all in the past for this van. So the hunt began for headlight units which would fit into the original lights' location and not look out of place. The difficulties led me to come to the conclusion that simply fitting some 5" x 7" units and making some kind of shroud around them to make them look like they belonged there.

But mounting these brought some difficulties too, until I saw that the mounting units used in the 2002-5 Nissan pickup would make it possible. I ordered a pair of these on eBay, cursing that I was unable to find any in a salvage yard.

And then, the very next day, I spotted a Mazda pickup from the same period - and its lights would obviously fit!

Back to eBay and I ordered a pair of these. They will need some mounting adaptation and a bit of blanking off of the spare space as they're just a bit lower than the originals. Just sitting in place as they will be mounted, how do these look?





They also have a built-in parking light fitting, and to make it all work I have to set things up so they attach via the original adjusters:



It's necessitated the cutting away of some parts of the plastic framework just to rough up the location, more will be required before they're mounted properly and wired up. I'm looking at putting a bit of a stainless steel 'eyebrow' over the extra space at the top, screwing this to the hood (I think), while the panel under the lights will be extended somehow to fill the gap at the bottom.

I'm awful glad that the next van I bring in will be the '91 model with its regular 5" x 7" units, much easier to deal with.