amber clearance lights

[nemo45]

I had water get into one of my amber clearance lights over the cab and found that two of the lenses were cracked. One so bad that when I removed it, it broke in two. The result is that all of the amber lights over the cab do not work. I'm thinking blown fuse. But, I'm confused, all of the other clearance and running lights work. Including the red ones at the top of the rear end. Are these amber ones on a different fuse? And since I'm 6'2" and 300 lbs., anyone have an idea which fuse it would be? So, I don't have to lay in that little bitty space under the steering wheel for an hour or so pulling each fuse to find the blown one. I can't figure out by the fuse list which one it would be, but there are several listed as body builder fuses. Please help needed. I just talked with the service department at my dealer and they told me it would be in the fuse box under the hood. I really don't see how this could be because these are high current fuses for whole systems.

[SinkorSwim]

The wiring diagrams I have show how Forest River tied all the headlights, foglights, turn signals and running lights into a standard Ford headlights wiring harness pigtail. It does not however then show how Ford broke out their side of the harness into their fuse panel. However as the interface for all is into the Ford harness it should be fused in that panel in the front engine compartment. I'd start with a run through looking for blown fuses.

The diagrams does show that the roof markers share the same pin in the harness as the left and right side markers. So if your front side marker lights are working you know the problem is not with the fuse but with the wiring to the upper markers or more likely the bulb holders.

I'll try to buy a scanner soon so I can post these.

[Nutmeg]

Nemo, My 373 is a 2007 so they may have changed but the first picture in my other post shows the connector where the Ford wiring hooks into the builders pigtail. On mine they are all labeled. Now I do not have a wire diagram so you would have to look at where the wire looms run looking for one that heads up for one of the "A" posts. In my case I think one of the pins in the connector had lost contact.

Ian, If you take the diagrams to the local library they may be able to scan it to a flash drive for you or direct up to the site. Wiring diagrams make it so much easier.

[nemo45]

Well, I went outside tonight after it was completely dark after turning on the headlights. The front amber lights are all out, not even a glimmer. All the rest are working. I'm stumped. I guess I'll start removing all the bases and see what I find underneath them. There is one, the one that had water in it, that the screws are really rusted on and there is rust on the rest of the metal inside. I'm thinking because there isn't a fuse blown it has to be a problem with the ground on one or all of the lights.

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by nemo45

Well, I went outside tonight after it was completely dark after turning on the headlights. The front amber lights are all out, not even a glimmer. All the rest are working. I'm stumped. I guess I'll start removing all the bases and see what I find underneath them. There is one, the one that had water in it, that the screws are really rusted on and there is rust on the rest of the metal inside. I'm thinking because there isn't a fuse blown it has to be a problem with the ground on one or all of the lights.

You lost your ground wire like it was said earlier.
You verified that you have 12 volts so start looking on chassis grounding points. I suspect you will find on wire hanging loose.
Probably up from in the engine compartment area.

[nemo45]

Could it be because of the corroded and rusted light base itself? I haven't found any dangling wires. Don't know why if its the light base, why all the rest of them would be out.

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by nemo45

Could it be because of the corroded and rusted light base itself? I haven't found any dangling wires. Don't know why if its the light base, why all the rest of them would be out.

Yes the rust can do it.
If you have 12 volt postive power at the marker lights you can take a wire from the chassis itself and take it up to each marker light and touch the ground side of the socket. This should make th elight work if you lost your common ground wire. You must make sure you know which side is ground and which side is the hot wire.

I would remove the whole marker socket and get 2 clean wires and test with meter first.



Good luck

[nemo45]

Ok, here is what I just did. I turned on the light switch went outside and hooked my tester to the negative pole on the battery and went up and checked the wires on each light. The red wire on each light was hot. But I couldn't find any hanging wire in the engine compartment and the ground wires I found were connected securely. i'm sure if I run a wire from the frame to ground wire on a light they'll all lite up.

[Nutmeg]

So you have confirmed a ground problem. Are the connections T'ed on the fixture or separate behind the fixture with a single feed to the fixture? If the corroded light is the first in the direction of feed and the grounds are t'ed on the fixture itself the problem could be right at that fixture. ie the ground wire is good at ground point until it gets to the corrosion on the fixture wire connection. You can use an ohm meter between the negitive terminal or your test light this time on the positive terminal, to look for a wire with a good ground. With the circuit de-energizied (light swith off)of course

[nemo45]

After further inspection the fixture isn't all that corroded. Its just the screws that hold the fixture to the fiberglass body that were rusted. There is a hot wire and ground wire going to each fixture of course, because there is no metal body or fram up there to ground to. I can't see what's going on behind the small 1/4" hole they go thru. I'm going to run a wire from the frame to one of the light ground wires and see if they all or some of them light up. I imagine the grounds are all connected. I also imagine the the ground wire goes thru one of the windshield side post covers inside the motorhome to get to the top of the cabfrom someplace on the frame. I'm trying to find out from FR just where the lights are grounded to.

[akcampr]

I have to ask, did you check all the bulbs? I had 3 up there burn out last year, 2 on the back, and 1 on the side. I am going to replace them with LED's this summer I think. I also had water inside 3 of them.

[nemo45]

Originally Posted by akcampr

I have to ask, did you check all the bulbs? I had 3 up there burn out last year, 2 on the back, and 1 on the side. I am going to replace them with LED's this summer I think. I also had water inside 3 of them.

Well, I'm a tad bit red faced. I crawled back up the ladder one more time. Here's what I found. The fixture that had water in it is bad, nothing works in that one. But, I went over to the other fixture I had the lens off of and took the bulb out and put a new one in and nothing. Then I wiggled the bulb around a bit and whalla (sp) light. So, I guess everything is ok as far as the wiring. I have FR overnighting me 5 new fixtures. They were $3.40 each plus the shipping. When I get them I'll check the other three that I put the lenses back on with new light bulbs and put new lenses on all of them and replace the bad fixture. All the lenses were cracked really bad. I'll see where I'm at after I do all of this. Who would have thought one fixture was bad and the other four have a loose or bad bulb. I'm trading my Georgetown on a used diesel pusher next week, that's why I had the new fixtures overnighted. Wanted to make sure everthing was ok, so I didn't get any crap from the dealer. We've really enjoyed our 378TS but being fulltimers needed more space and storage. And a king sized bed.

[nemo45]

All the amber clearance lights are working now. I didn't have to replace any of the bases, but replaced two of the bulb sockets. They we just corroded too much to work. And, you can't really get inside them to clean the contacts. Strangely none of the bulbs were burned out. That's the reason I thought I had a blown fuse or dropped a ground. I checked each bulb with my fluke and they checked ok. Just didn't think to turn on the switch and wiggle each bulb around. Lesson learned. I'm going to have to put all of the new lenses on. The were all cracked. But, I'm going to keep a couple of the better old ones for spares. FR did a great job of getting me the parts overnite. Very happy with their service. Oh, I can tell you for sure that the running lights fuse is no. 6 in the fuse box in the engine compartment, cause I popped it when I was working on the lights. Its a 20 amp mini.

[akcampr]

Glad you got'r done!