2000 Silverado Light problem

[mike_sid95]

I recently rear ended someone in my 2000 silverado. Luckily no one was hurt and my truck wasn't beat up too bad. Just some new bumper brackets and headlight components and I was back on the road (so I thought). I do not have all of the bulbs that I need for my lower light housing (dlr/turn signal/ parking lamp) however one side is complete with all undamaged bulbs. When i turn on my truck I have no daytime running lights and when I try to turn my parking lamps on they don't work either. And my turn signals/emergency flashers are not working front or rear. A few days after the accident I was able to get my parking lamps and flashers to work but now no matter what I try I get nothing. I replaced the right side bumper bracket that has the ground on it but I checked and recheck to make sure the ground had a solid metal-to-metal connection. I check the fuses that seemed obvious to me and still have no results. Is there a fuse or relay that effects all of these lights, front and back and on both sides? Or could I be missing another ground?

BTW all of the rear lights work except for the flashers (parking lamps, reverse etc..)

[Doug_Scott]

Try making up a test grounding wire. Take a long length of 12 to 14 gauge wire, connect one end to the negative battery post., take the other end and attach it to the ground wire on a 12v test light. Using the probe on the test light, probe the ground wire on the sockets while the bulb should be working. If the light illuminates, you likely have a bad ground at that point. The reason I suggest using a test light is to prevent any accidental short circuits by connecting test ground to wrong side of bulb. You can also use a volt meter, except the volt meter will not make the lights work while testing, and the test light will, Do NOT test with ammeter.

 

You can also connect the battery end to the positive post of the battery and use that to check the ground side of sockets with power turned off and lights not being tried. The test light should light up on the ground side of the socket if other end is connected to positive post.

 

If you have to purchase a test light, try to get one of the new style ones that protect sensitive circuits. Main reason for this is not so much for this job, but, if you ever try to fix a EFI issue, a wrong test light can hurt stuff.

 

You may want to verify the any cable termination points or connection points are clean and secure as well. Twisting and or pulling on wires may create a connection issue at disconnect points.