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Old 04-20-2015, 07:09 PM   #1
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No towing lights

I just bought this 1995 260 Classic. None of the exterior towing lights work. The 7 pin plug is pretty corroded as are most of the light sockets and wiring from having no covers. Is there any common area that the wiring for the lights has problems?
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Old 04-20-2015, 11:03 PM   #2
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I think you pretty much identified your problem area. Corrosion is probably the culprit, work there first.
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Old 04-20-2015, 11:49 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by zytek_fan View Post
I just bought this 1995 260 Classic. None of the exterior towing lights work. The 7 pin plug is pretty corroded as are most of the light sockets and wiring from having no covers. Is there any common area that the wiring for the lights has problems?
This might help:
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Old 04-21-2015, 12:02 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by zytek_fan View Post
I just bought this 1995 260 Classic. None of the exterior towing lights work. The 7 pin plug is pretty corroded as are most of the light sockets and wiring from having no covers. Is there any common area that the wiring for the lights has problems?
Check the corroded areas. On my old camper a few wires had pulled out inside the trailer connector, easy fix. If you have enough cord length, i'd probably just buy a new connector, cut it back a little and rewire it if the corrosion is bad.
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Old 04-21-2015, 01:33 AM   #5
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Does anyone else's have a ton of scotch locks for wiring connectors on their lights and brakes?
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Old 04-21-2015, 01:42 AM   #6
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Does anyone else's have a ton of scotch locks for wiring connectors on their lights and brakes?
1/2 ton at least. I taped all of mine when I connected the LED turn/brake assembly.
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Old 04-21-2015, 01:44 AM   #7
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1/2 ton at least. I taped all of mine when I connected the LED turn/brake assembly.
I expected them on the lights, but not on the trailer brakes.

I'll be working underneath on wirewheeling all the rust on the frame and painting, so I'll take some time to replace the scotch locks.
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Old 04-21-2015, 01:45 AM   #8
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Does anyone else's have a ton of scotch locks for wiring connectors on their lights and brakes?
I'm sure some do, but it's not good. In a perfect world, it should be solid copper from the plug to the destination socket, connection, whatever. Each connection is an open invitation to corrosion. If you must splice, get a good, strong physical connection, encased in solder, wrapped with shrink wrap, then taped, and finally enclosed in a protective hose or conduit.
If you do terminate a wire with a crimp-connect, solder it anyway, and leave enough wire for subsequent replacements. An example would be a ring terminal at the battery post.
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Old 04-21-2015, 01:50 AM   #9
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I'm sure some do, but it's not good. In a perfect world, it should be solid copper from the plug to the destination socket, connection, whatever. Each connection is an open invitation to corrosion. If you must splice, get a good, strong physical connection, encased in solder, wrapped with shrink wrap, then taped, and finally enclosed in a protective hose or conduit.
If you do terminate a wire with a crimp-connect, solder it anyway, and leave enough wire for subsequent replacements. An example would be a ring terminal at the battery post.
Having been using Deutsch connectors at work (I'm a Caterpillar service technician) I would really like to use those to replace all the scotch locks.
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Old 04-21-2015, 02:26 AM   #10
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I am a huge fan of duraseal butt splices. after you splice your wires, take a heat gun and heat it just like heat shrink, except these splices will make an extremelyy tight enviormental seal around the wire into the splice.

splices
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