1st Gen License plate lighting and tail lights out

Hey, I know this has been asked, but the solutions aren't really working for me. I'd really appreciate any tips I could get.

Tag lights and tail lights are both out, all the other lighting in the entire truck work. I know there are shared circuits, but I checked the fuses anyway, in both the engine compartment and the driver side fuse box. I also replaced relays just to make sure it wasn't something stuck open in the system. I've checked the harness coming down the frame rail that the driver side rear light assembly plugs into and all the pins have power when they're supposed to. It's strange that both of those went out at the same time. If it was the harness, none of the lighting would work. It has to be a splice point somewhere, aftermarket led lighting was added for the interior as well as the bed, which all works. I've replaced sockets on the license plate lighting as well as bulbs. Replaced bulbs in the tail light assembly. Would it be easier to replace those harnesses and just rerun the rear of the truck?

 

You plan to tell us what year and cab type, so we know how to help you?

Does the truck have an aftermarket tow wiring harness on it?

Have you popped off the driver's side tail light to inspect the wiring, and the OEM tow box that's behind it, if your truck is an earlier year with tow package?

I highly recommend you read this thread to guide you on troubleshooting, follow the steps @nphunter took to diagnose your shit: https://www.tundras.com/threads/no-tail-lights-good-fuses-and-everything-else-works.144142/

 

I forgot that part. 2006 Tundra crew max (double cab). I've taken both tail light assemblies out and didn't notice a tow box, there is a peak lighting box that controls the led lighting though.

Thanks for the link, that's probably what it is. The more I dig around the more splice points I find, I've already taken a few apart today. I'm going to have to solder a bunch of shit together because this guy used those plastic quicktaps all over the place behind the tail light.

 

Also worth noting, if you've replaced the bulbs with LEDs, a great deal of LEDs are polarized and can be installed backwards. When that happens, if it's a series circuit, all downstream lights die. Revert to halogens and see if you suddenly have lights again.

 

interesting this is brought up, last night I got pulled over for no tail lights, just a warning from trooper, this morning I checked all the fuses and all look good. Tail lights were working last time I checked ( few weeks ago)

 

Not super easy. Those bundles use a special zip tie with a plastic block that plugs into the square hole on the frame. Amazon supposedly has zip ties that should fit but I haven’t ordered or tried them myself.

However, if you don’t mind it being somewhat of a mess with how the bundle is held, go for it.

 

Look for any taped up splices near the rear if the fuses are intact. Especially tracing back the lines going to any trailer plug. People have even found OEM and/or dealership spliced harnesses that rotted out.

Start by popping off your driver tail light and looking for the black box inside there. Test for power on the wires. Then trace from there. EWD (elec. wiring diagram) are your friend and linked in the megathread, 4th or 5th paragraph.

PS - @prgmatic re-check your DOME fuse in the dash. Make sure it's not blown out.

 

I finally got mine fixed. I replaced both harnesses for the tail lights, which are pretty cheap. It was the section of harness near the gas tank. I recently went on a trip to New Mexico and was camping in the mountains for 10 days, looks like a rodent got on top of my gas tank and chewed some stuff up, just took a while to finally cause a problem. Good news is, the wiring on the lighting is back to stock I guess.