1997 F53 Bounder Tail and Parking Light Circuit Issue

[Captron2]

My taillight/parking lights have been wonky for some time and I wondered if anyone else had this issue to allow them to point me at the wiring up front. I say up front because the front lights are also affected. Brake and turn signals work fine.

Previous owner had added side lights at the front (A good idea if done right) but all wires are encased in flex tubes making tracking difficult. I started at the headlight switch and fuses. Fuses seemed fine using a DVM, headlight switch was inconclusive as I don't have a lighting circuit diagram.

What I want is to find an early point in the circuit where it has power. The brown wire is the one I'm trying to track but the myriad of flex tubes is confusing and the wires emerging from the frame are many and difficult/awkward to access to try to split the flex tube enough to find the brown wire.

Does anyone know of a common access point under the hood? There must be a point where the front and rear wires begin to split. from the feed.

Thanks.

 

[Kirk]

It would be helpful to know what chassis your Bounder is on.

I'm not sure what you mean by wonky? Is the problem that none of them are lighting at all? Did you check the fuses by removing them and reading through them with an ohm meter? You could check the light switch with a volt meter by measuring from the pins to ground to locate the voltage supply with the switch in the off position.

 

[Captron2]

Greetings Kirk, We have a Ford F53, '97 Fleetwood Bounder, W/LED lights rear and added front side lights.

Answers:

1. Wonky: In this instance means No tail lights, hard to figure out what's wrong. ALL Rear tail lights and marker lights are none existent and the front and marker lights are similar.
2. As mentioned (two of us) have checked all fuses and they appear to be OK with a DVM ohms continuity check. To be clear these are FORD fuse boxes inside the Dash (Hard to access) and the other Ford fuse panel under the center of the windshield in the engine compartment. (Hard to Read but used a phone to verify all fuses had continuity.
3. Headlight switch: Two of us separately tried to test the voltage on the wires here, but we didn't have a clear understanding of the viability of our testing as the switch was difficult to access and test. We removed the switch from the dash but were unclear as to its correct operation without a clear understanding of the wiring.

There is no voltage at the rear, trying to trace the front ones now but all are in flex tubes with many junctions. Rear left tail light when disconnected from the rest of the wires, had a measured voltage of 4.5V, not enough to run anything else. It looks like a corroded connection somewhere and I'm trying to isolate it.

I was hoping someone would be able to guide me to where the wires spread out and split to front and rear. If we have power here it would be easier to trace. Today I bought a wire tracer and will try connecting to the known brown tail light wires at the back and front, but the wires to the rear might be too long for the tester. Hopefully the front ones may be better. Raining now will try again this weekend.

 

[Kirk]

Fuse Specification Chart​

This link will take you to the Ford website and show all of the fuse panels for the 1997, F53 chassis. It gives the location of each fuse panel and power distribution panel and then lists the items by number and what each one is for. The last panel there is only on the F59 and not your F53. The wiring from those panels to the running lights would likely have been installed by the Bounder factory from the Ford wiring harness. Since you know that lights were added, it may be that the wire harness has been modified.

The best way to check a fuse is to remove it and then check it with an ohm meter. If left in place there could be a parallel path around the fuse.

In case you didn't know, the Fleetwood company that built your motorhome no longer exists. It was broken up in bankruptcy court and the present owner bought the name and the motorhome brands and factories. They do not have any of the records from when yours was built.

 

[Captron2]

Fuse Specification Chart​

This link will take you to the Ford website and show all of the fuse panels for the 1997, F53 chassis. It gives the location of each fuse panel and power distribution panel and then lists the items by number and what each one is for. The last panel there is only on the F59 and not your F53. The wiring from those panels to the running lights would likely have been installed by the Bounder factory from the Ford wiring harness. Since you know that lights were added, it may be that the wire harness has been modified.

The best way to check a fuse is to remove it and then check it with an ohm meter. If left in place there could be a parallel path around the fuse.

In case you didn't know, the Fleetwood company that built your motorhome no longer exists. It was broken up in bankruptcy court and the present owner bought the name and the motorhome brands and factories. They do not have any of the records from when yours was built.

Thanks Kirk., the link is helpful.

FYI Update: I purchased a wire/cable tracker. This idea is to go to a known brown taillight wire and try to back-trace the wire to the front. Sadly this is where the size of the rig (34ft) works against me as that signal degrades with distance and 34+ ft of wires and connections might be too much.
Still raining will try again this weekend.

 

[Mr Lars]

Many people have claimed Fords of that era did not ‘play nice’ with LED lights, not sure if by 1997 Ford had resolved that issue or not. Being as this a Motorhome, thus Ford is not responsible for anything above the chassis, my point may or may not have any merit.
On our 1995 F53 Bounder, I have purposely avoided any LED bulbs on the exterior lights. Same with my 1991 F-350 diesel, no LED bulbs anywhere on/in that vehicle, strange thing is, I can hook up to our 2018 TT that has all LED
bulbs, and the truck has no problems.

 

[TheBar]

Starting at the back and working forward is the reverse of what I would do. For both front and rear lights to be affected your problem is likely in the front before any front and rear wiring junction points. Like at or near the fuse box(s), dash connectors, or at the switch itself, which could be faulty after 29 years.

 

[Captron2]

Starting at the back and working forward is the reverse of what I would do. For both front and rear lights to be affected your problem is likely in the front before any front and rear wiring junction points. Like at or near the fuse box(s), dash connectors, or at the switch itself, which could be faulty after 29 years.

Good point, I will start at the front first as soon as I can find/access the correct wire in the mess that's there and encapsulated in the flex tubing.

 

[Kirk]

encapsulated in the flex tubing.

Tracing an individual wire without removing the sheath is going to be very difficult, if not impossible. I would open that tubing and then when finished, just wrap it back around the wire bundle and fasten it with small zip-ties.

 

[PancakeBill]

I had a 97 F53 Southwind 35’. I ended up having a bad ground in the back lights.

 

[Captron2]

Many people have claimed Fords of that era did not ‘play nice’ with LED lights, not sure if by 1997 Ford had resolved that issue or not. Being as this a Motorhome, thus Ford is not responsible for anything above the chassis, my point may or may not have any merit.
On our 1995 F53 Bounder, I have purposely avoided any LED bulbs on the exterior lights. Same with my 1991 F-350 diesel, no LED bulbs anywhere on/in that vehicle, strange thing is, I can hook up to our 2018 TT that has all LED
bulbs, and the truck has no problems.

Lars there is no doubt LED set up for rear lighting should be a good thing as it reduces wire loads and filament bulb associated heat issues. But most vehicles with computers or load sensors, don't play nice with LEDs due to the reduced loading.
In smaller vehicles you get the mega-flash rate for turn signals, but a simple load resistor fixes that in a hurry.
All my interior lights have been converted to LED and this led to brighter lights and longer house battery life.
I changed my Toad to LED headlights and what a difference/improvement.