Cargo light problem

[95Z71Mike]

The lightbulbs are brand new.. 912 if I remember right. And the brake lights are 921
Brake light works but the cargo doesn't. Swapped out the dash switch with one I know works and still didn't work.

Is there a ground that I might've bumped when I pulled the cover off? If not what's up with my lights?

 

[frito-bandito]

I wonder if they have a separate fuse? I blew my radio / brake light fuse when changing those bulbs once.

 

[frito-bandito]

Did you install regular bulbs or LEDs?

 

[95Z71Mike]

Regular bulbs

And I never thought about it being a separate fuse. I'll have to look into that.

 

[df2x4]

Check it with the key on, in park, door open. These things have a sort of specific set of circumstances in which they actually work. "Safety features." The cargo lights won't turn on when the truck is in gear, and IIRC they won't turn on if the key is out of the ignition. Doors might have to be open, too. I'd go check but my red truck is in storage right now.

 

[vaporlock]

You can use 194 bulbs too, it's what I use but LED's.

Mine used to only work while the interior light swith was on, truck in park and ofcourse cargo light switch on, I don't remember if the ignition had to be on (?).
The weird thing is now all of a sudden I can just flip the cargo light switch on and the lights work, I always wanted it to work like so but never got to fixing it so I don't know what happend there.

 

[95Z71Mike]

Idk, I had the door open, interior lights on and off, the headlights on and off, the key in the ignition on and running.

If I have time I'll check it out today. It's not a big problem, just something to fix if I can.

 

[df2x4]

Mine used to only work while the interior light swith was on, truck in park and ofcourse cargo light switch on, I don't remember if the ignition had to be on (?).

Good call, I forgot about flipping the interior lights on instead of opening a door. Different action, same result in this case.

 

[1500z71]

My cargo light is the '93 version but I hit my connections with some light sand paper and it knocked some grime off and gave me more consistent results. Its pretty useless nowadays though with everyone having a flashlight in their pocket. I've never practically used mine.

 

[AK49BWL]

The way mine was, stock 97 Ext Cab, the dome lights had to be on for the cargo light to work. I was working on the interior a while back and just snipped the ground wire from the cargo light and grounded it to the body, because unlike the dome lights, the cargo lamp is positive-switched (which is why it'd only work with the dome lights on, because the domes are negative-switched).. So now I can turn the cargo lamp on any time I feel like.