Help with 1968 Ambassador Outside Lights

[Smuponies]

Hello,

Great forum! I've been working on my 1968 Airstream and have run into a brick wall. I wanted to see how the outside lights work, specifically the clearance lights and tail lights. Funny, the clearance lights on the front half of the trailer work and none of the clearance lights (or tail lights) in the rear of the trailer work. I got out my volt meter, and it confirmed no voltage on the lights at the rear of the trailer.

Anyone have any idea how to fix this? There is some removable panel under the trailer by the front door step. Will that have wiring?

Any help/insight is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[uwe]

Both my 1971 Tradewind and my 1963 Overlander have their rear marker lights paralleled to the taillight/license light circuit.
the wire came from the curbside tallight and went up behind the end cap, where it daisy chained to the marker lights.
I can't guarantee that your 1968 is wired the same, but would be surprised if it was drastically different.

I would assume that the entire feed to the rear lights is interrupted, and would therefore investigate the place where the trailer to vehicle cord enters the coach, and connects to the internal trailer wiring. This would be the most likely place for a wiring problem, and the easiest to start with.

[overlander63]

I went through this a little while back, the wire for the clearance lightsruns down the curbside main lengthwise bow from front to back. In my trailer it was purple. The wire runs back to the end cap, where it makes a right turn into the end cap, over to the right rear clearance light, and goes from that light around to the other clearance lights, ending at the streetside rear clearance light. You may have to pull a new wire through so you can get them working again.

[Anon]

Originally Posted by overlander63

I went through this a little while back, the wire for the clearance lightsruns down the curbside main lengthwise bow from front to back. In my trailer it was purple. The wire runs back to the end cap, where it makes a right turn into the end cap, over to the right rear clearance light, and goes from that light around to the other clearance lights, ending at the streetside rear clearance light. You may have to pull a new wire through so you can get them working again.

Terry,
Was this on your Argosy? If so, please read further.
I have no voltage on the clearance lights on the rear of mine either. I do have voltage at the taillights and the license plate bracket.
How do I go about pulling it apart to see if there is volatge coming into the clearance lights?

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by pattersontoo

Terry,
Was this on your Argosy? If so, please read further.
I have no voltage on the clearance lights on the rear of mine either. I do have voltage at the taillights and the license plate bracket.
How do I go about pulling it apart to see if there is volatge coming into the clearance lights?

The easiest way to check the voltage for your clearance lights is to remove the curbside corner light (will require drilling the rivets out) and checking the voltage coming into the wire there. What you may find, is you have voltage, but the ground is bad. The rivets that hold the lights on, also act as grounds for the bulbs. If they are corroded, or loose, and they probably are, they will not ground, and the lights will not work. The rivets were made of aluminum, so dissimilar metal corrosion between the steel end caps and the aluminum rivets played a role, too.
I re-riveted the lights, and they all started working again. I then installed LED clearance lights on it, and the new lights helped immensely, as far as lighting goes. I had to re-run the wire thanks to an overzealous, if not particularly capable, assistant, that tore the wire in half and dropped it inside the shell.
I located the wire at the point the A/C goes through the roof, spliced in a new wire, and was able to pull the wire through.