Stumped - Blinker and Brake Light Out!!

G

guitarmonkey55

New Member
First of all, newbie here so hi everyone!

I have a 2006 Ford ranger sport with some blinker issues. I first noticed it when I got a fast turn signal with my left blinker, appearing to be a burnt out bulb. The rear left blinker was not working at all. I replaced the bulb, but to no avail. Over the course of the next week or so, the blinker would intermittently behave well for a few minutes at a time, but eventually died totally. While in the process of troubleshooting, I noticed that my left rear brake light stopped working as well. The bulb is not at issue, as the light comes on just fine when I turn on my headlights.

I checked the fuses, they appear to be fine. At the advice of another ranger owner, I replaced the multi-function switch as he had the same problem and this turned out to be the cure - didn't fix my truck though! So now I am not sure where to turn. As far as I understand (I moved just recently and havent found the box with my ranger service manual in it) the flasher relay does not interact with the brake lights, so I have not looked to that yet. Has anyone experienced this problem before or can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks!
 
First off, welcome to rfn! Next, member Brinker88 might know something about this. If not, member buggman will know. It sounds to me like it is your flasher relay that's gone bad. Send a pm to one of the members I suggested and see what they say. Good luck!
 
When mine went I replaced it with a brand new one and I had the same problem, went back and exchanged it and never had a problem again.
 
Could be a few things. Either your Tail Light socket is shot, or the replacement switch is gone as well. If it was the flasher, it would do it for right turn too.

Your truck being an 06, has the 2 bulb set up. Have a friend hold your brakes, and see if both brake lights are on. If both lights are on, you have a wiring problem or the switch is still bad. If the left brake light is off, your bulb socket is possibly bad.
 
So an update - appreciate the replies so far btw!

I got a multimeter and traced the wires from the hot leads coming into the flasher relay all the way to the tail. It appears that the harness right before the connector plug where it splits off to go to the left and right lights is the problem. I tried the trailer plug and brakes and both blinkers work there, so it appears the little span of cable before the other plug is the problem.

Does anybody have any experience repairing this sort of thing? Its pretty tough to get up in there and do a whole lot. Is this the sort of job where I would want to splice the connection with some clean wire or is there another approach here?
 
Have you checked for rodent damage? Squirrels have been known to nest in the spare tire under the bed, from where they can chew on the wires.
 
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