Tail lights not working

[Deadmeat]

I took my boat out today and noticed that the tail lights weren't working. The turn signals and brake lights on the trailer worked fine but not the tail lights. I did a search on this website and others and it seems like most of the time it's a problem with the ground. I haven't run a wire from each tail light to the frame as some have suggested but I did find something else. I had my car wired for the trailer at U-Haul and in tracing the wiring back from the trailer I came to the tail light converter plug. There are five wires going from the tail light of the car to the tail light converter plug, one of them being a white ground wire. Wrapped around this wire was a label that says, "Attach Ground wire to vehicle body or vehicle frame." The white ground wire has a Y-connector on it but for the life of me I can't find any indication that the ground wire was ever attached to the body or frame of the car. My guess is that the only reason it worked at all is because the Y-connector was lying under the mat in the trunk and was lying on the metal of the bottom of the trunk. My knowledge of all things electrical is limited to turning on a light switch so forgive the dumb question. This ground wire needs to be attached to the frame of the car, right? And this should solve the tail light problem?

 

[Quackrstackr]

Yes, that is your ground from your trailer lights back to the vehicle.

It needs to be grounded to the frame. Running a screw through the sheet metal in your trunk may suffice. Scratch off some paint underneath the carpet and hold it to the bare metal and have someone test it before screwing it down there.

 

[Deadmeat]

Thanks. I did what you said and it worked like a charm. Problem solved.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Go back to u-haul and complain. There's no reason you should have to finish their job.