Drivers Tail Light Running Lights Not Working

[Cabose-1]

Remember the days when it was just wires and switches?
Not bcm and a circuit board for a taillight.
Wow, really going to be careful how i hook up wiring.

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[AvockAdoo]

Writing one more post in here for anyone who stumbles across this in the future: I got my topper installed by a very reputable topper place in Feb 2022, didnt notice tail light out until March, but likely happened much sooner. Signal light, and brake light sill worked 100%, just the running light was out. @JDowns was EXTREMELY helpful in diagnosis. His post earlier in this thread is 100% spot on.

Unplugged the topper from the harness, then unplugged the battery, let it sit for 15-20 minutes - and bam I was back in business.

Hauled ass down to Suburban Toppers in Denver, and they rewired my topper to run off of a fused power source, and be switched by the brake pedal switch. A more "professional" install option, and something they said they've been having to do more often on newer trucks with LED tail lights.

Everything SEEMS great now! I will post an update if that changes, but currently everything is working just like it did before the topper.

Cheers!

 

[D Fresh]

Glad you got it fixed.

Just want to say that this is why this forum rocks. Good, knowledgeable, helpful people abound here.

Also, Suburban Toppers in Denver is a good company. My experience with them is decades old but they were a stand up company back then too.

 

[DrizzyDrake]

I am having this issue, I don't have a topper. I checked the connector and I disconnected the battery, discharged the capacitors, then reconnected it. Still not good. I'll try just leaving the battery disconnected and I'll report back for anyone else that may come across this thread with a similar issue.

 

[AvockAdoo]

Funny enough I was going to update this post. Rewiring the topper did NOT fix the issue. Disconnecting the battery & reconnecting it has been a temporary solution for me. Each time I disconnect/reconnect, my light works for approx. 1 month. Then I'll be driving & notice in my mirror that its out again. I'm trying to get into Ford to have them look at it, but man its hard to get into the dealers.

Let me know how your experience goes!

 

[DrizzyDrake]

The battery reset did not work. I found there was a recall for something in the US to do with loose Pins in the connector on 2019s. I am going to bring it into ford for them to diagnose it and fix it, as I'm still under warranty (barely, only 10,000km left)

 

[AvockAdoo]

The battery reset did not work. I found there was a recall for something in the US to do with loose Pins in the connector on 2019s. I am going to bring it into ford for them to diagnose it and fix it, as I'm still under warranty (barely, only 10,000km left)

If you find a link to that recall - could you send it my way? I want to prepare for battle in advance... just in case...

 

[AvockAdoo]

My battery reset isnt working now either. It will work for about a day, but then its out again.

I am taking it in to O'Meara Ford here in Denver on 6/6 to have them look at it. Hopefully they know how to attack the problem!

 

[William Oz]

I'm having troubles with my tail lamps too. My rear brake lights stay lit when the running lights are turned on. (LED Lariat) I removed all the wiring from the cap and I disconnected the battery twice but not for over 5 minutes. Going to try again for longer period of time and see if it resets the BCM.

 

[TdotReckless]

I'm having troubles with my tail lamps too. My rear brake lights stay lit when the running lights are turned on. (LED Lariat) I removed all the wiring from the cap and I disconnected the battery twice but not for over 5 minutes. Going to try again for longer period of time and see if it resets the BCM.

hey, i am having the same issue as you and you're the first one i found having the same issue. Were u able to figure out what was causing this issue?

 

[D Fresh]

My battery reset isnt working now either. It will work for about a day, but then its out again.

I am taking it in to O'Meara Ford here in Denver on 6/6 to have them look at it. Hopefully they know how to attack the problem!

Any updates?

 

[AvockAdoo]

Yep - I noticed that my front DRL was also going out at the same time as the rear on the drivers side. I contacted Morimoto and they said it was a semi-common issue with their LEDs. They sent a replacement set, but I opted to swap out for OEM LED instead.

In the meantime while I was searching for a set of OEM LED, I put the standard halogen housings back in and had 0 issues. Since I've installed the OEM LED & made the Forscan changes, I havent had an issue and its been a little over a month.

These trucks seem to not play very nice with aftermarket LED lights. I've heard tell of folks running drop in LEDs in the stock housings & having similar issues. The BCM must be reading fault codes of sort and shutting systems down to prevent damage.

Are either of you running LED housings or anything other than stock? That would be my starting point.

 

[William Oz]

hey, i am having the same issue as you and you're the first one i found having the same issue. Were u able to figure out what was causing this issue?

I ended up replacing my brake light switch, disconnecting my cap wires from the scotch locks the cap installers used. Installed the Leer 7 way wire harness 300200.

 

[D Fresh]

Yep - I noticed that my front DRL was also going out at the same time as the rear on the drivers side. I contacted Morimoto and they said it was a semi-common issue with their LEDs. They sent a replacement set, but I opted to swap out for OEM LED instead.

In the meantime while I was searching for a set of OEM LED, I put the standard halogen housings back in and had 0 issues. Since I've installed the OEM LED & made the Forscan changes, I havent had an issue and its been a little over a month.

These trucks seem to not play very nice with aftermarket LED lights. I've heard tell of folks running drop in LEDs in the stock housings & having similar issues. The BCM must be reading fault codes of sort and shutting systems down to prevent damage.

Are either of you running LED housings or anything other than stock? That would be my starting point.

Good job chasing it down.

Did Morimoto cover the headlights?

 

[OFC Ranger]

Yep - I noticed that my front DRL was also going out at the same time as the rear on the drivers side. I contacted Morimoto and they said it was a semi-common issue with their LEDs. They sent a replacement set, but I opted to swap out for OEM LED instead.

In the meantime while I was searching for a set of OEM LED, I put the standard halogen housings back in and had 0 issues. Since I've installed the OEM LED & made the Forscan changes, I havent had an issue and its been a little over a month.

These trucks seem to not play very nice with aftermarket LED lights. I've heard tell of folks running drop in LEDs in the stock housings & having similar issues. The BCM must be reading fault codes of sort and shutting systems down to prevent damage.

Are either of you running LED housings or anything other than stock? That would be my starting point.

This is more or less the same reason I had to switch my fancy sequential lights I put on the rear of my rack. I had them wired directly into the tail light harness because tapping the trailer harness made my fancy sequential turn signals blink normal instead of... you know the nice looking sequential sequence.

For an entire year they worked fine, then suddenly one day my driver side (only) started causing a fast turn signal blink. My factory signals were fine, but it was acting like I had a bulb out somewhere and my driver rear rack sequential no longer worked. I re-wired to some beefier ground spots and did what I thought was a BCM reset. Worked fine, for about a week, then reverted.

I gave up trying to chase the tail of the dragon and re-wired to my trailer harness wiring, opting to get functionality back vs. fancy sequential. The added benefit is I could reduce the system down to 3 wires, instead of 5.

All that to say this; why a simple electrical system such as turn signals needs to be tied to a fancy computer system is stupid.

Edit: One day I am going to try a last ditch effort and not only move the wiring to a relay, but also add a one way diode into the circuit to see if I can get my sequentials back.

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