[thisRupe]

Hello, I have a 2006 Ford Explorer and recently noticed my rear parking lights don't come on during the night driving.

• The break lights work
• The front lights come on as expected.
• I have replaced the bulbs for parking lights in the back
• The fuse for park lights was burned and I replaced it. Since it hasn't burned.
• I replaced the relay associated with parking lights.
• I have replaced the light switch with two different switches I recovered from the junk yard which didn't resolve the issue

It seems like I need to troubleshoot electrical and was wondering anyone has a suggestion on what I can do next.
Is there a schematic for the parking break circuit that someone could share with me?
Or a list of the which wires from the light switch control the parking lights.

Thank you for any suggestions you can provide.

 

[Pest0001]

You want to look at the headlight/parking light switch first. Maybe the contact that sends the lower voltage to the brake/driving lights has opened.
Just speculating here. As an aircraft electrician in the Navy, if you have changed the fuse, relays and bulbs, and nothing has burned out again, but they are still not functioning the problem if behind them. More towards the power distribution point. Or, perhaps, before the fuse's popped, the wire was damaged and has completely opened.
If you don't have one, get a multimeter and start isolating wires and components at both ends, one by one, and check continuity on them. If they all check 0-.9 ohm (good wire), probably something in the voltage distribution center. If it reads 1 ohm or even infinity or O.L., it is bad/broken/open internally.
The trick is to be systematic, starting at the end and working your way up "river". Hope this helps.

 

[thisRupe]

Thank you for your advice. As you mentioned, I just needed to go wire by wire.
However I found the smoking gun that solved my problem.
I started looking under the dash and found the main wiring harness had a number of wires that were cut and resoldered (previous owner). There were a couple wires where the connections broke (likely from vibration or my foot kicking it).
I soldered the wires properly, sealed it, and taped all the wires so they didn't have anymore stress on them or couldn't get kicked with feet.

So far it has been working!

Thank you again for your reply

 

[Pest0001]

Good. Always nice to find a simple fix. Hope it is the culprit.

 

[Pest0001]

Any word on a fix? Curious if you found a solution.