2005 standard panel van ,
Both tail lights are dead , no power to the plug using a test light ,

I checked the fuses under the seat and they are OK
I checked the fuses under the hood and they are OK ,

Is there another fuse to check that is not marked as a light on the chart ? or a wire to wiggle

Could it be the dash switch ? and how would I check that switch.?

any ideas ? What to check ? How to "hot wire" it from the fuse box if I have to....

Thanks for your ideas

 

did you measure 12V on the fuse?

 

truthfully I just checked that the fuse was good , I guess I better go out and pull them to check

 

The brake light switch is the next thing I'd check

 

on my 07 express 3500 I had series of problems w the the driver side tail light not lighting, but the passenger side was lighting fine. the fuses were good. I found using chitons wiring diagrams that there must be a pinched or corroded hot wire connection coming into to the driverside rear taillike assembly. that wire was supplying amps to the L driver side taillight bulb. using a clamp on dc ammeter (fluke 320) I meaured amps in the hot wire to the taillight bulb assembly driver side with the amp flow into passenger side tail light . driver side was getting a lot less amps than passenger side lamp . then for curiosity I measured amps into the other lights like reverse, etc. for both sides. There was deteriorated wiring coming into the driver side rear lamp assembly. I bought a whole new driver side rear lamp assembly off the internet for about $90 which fixed the problem. (note that all my fuses were good. )

 

I know the 96-02 are known for corrosion in the harness where they go into the light assembly, thought they'd fixed that. You can beat it on the cheap by cleaning and soldering the connections.