Well this morning while I had my truck in my backyard, my dog decided it was a good time to chew off my trailer electrical plug. No big deal I go and buy a new plug, connect it back up, replace a fuse, and all isn't good. Now my brake lights don't work at all on my truck. My running lights, turn signals, and hazards all work but no brake lights. I even plugged in to my trailer and have the same results. Does anyone know if the brake lights are tied into the flasher, or is there a seperate breaker or fuse I'm missing? My truck is a Dodge Dakota. I'm using a standard flat 4 wire plug. Thanks in advance, Brian

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2006 John Deere Buck 650
2005 Polaris Sportsman 700 EFI
2002 Polaris Trailblazer
2004 Xtreme CR 107 Pitbike

That's a little strange - usually if the flashers work the brake lights work too. Check to make sure that you have a good ground connection (wired through the plug). If you're just grounding through the ball hitch it can cause all kinds of wierd electrical issues.

Another thought - Does your truck have amber turn signals on the rear? There's anb extra circuit box for vehicles like this - could be that the first chewing shorted something out there.

Jaybee

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'07 Outlander 800 XT Camo
'02 Eiger 5-sp
'02 Ozark
'96 TRX90

Old rides: '89 Warrior, '93 KQ 300, '97 Warrior, '84 LT50, '98 LT80

'07 GMC Sierra 2500HD DMax
25' six-place flatbed trailer

No on the amber lights. After talking to the dealer he said it may have shorted out the brake light switch. How I noticed my misfortunes was when I'd put on my turn signal, my dash lights, radio lights, odometer, etc we're flashing with it. Of course to make it worse, I had to drive through a downpour before fixing it. Looks like a job for the $$$$ man. Even my third light on top of the cab is dead. It's still grounded correctly with a made for harness. The fuse was pretty burnt I replaced. Brian

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2006 John Deere Buck 650
2005 Polaris Sportsman 700 EFI
2002 Polaris Trailblazer
2004 Xtreme CR 107 Pitbike

Yup, somewhere you've shorted between the hot to the brake/turn circuit and hot to your guages. Could be the brake light switch, could be somewhere else. This kind of electrical troubleshooting can be a real pain to find and fix. Hopefully you'll get lucky and find it quickly. Other than replacing sealed components like the brake switch, try separating any wire clusters by just moving the wires apart a little. A 12v short will not always leave much of a charred mark, so if you separate any cluster of wires and it seems to solve the problem you can go back into that cluster to find and repair any insulation breaks.

The only other thing I can think to check would be the new trailer plug. Just double check for the obvious stuff like a stray strand of wire jumping to another contact or a chewed wire that is still in place.

Jaybee

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'07 Outlander 800 XT Camo
'02 Eiger 5-sp
'02 Ozark
'96 TRX90

Old rides: '89 Warrior, '93 KQ 300, '97 Warrior, '84 LT50, '98 LT80

'07 GMC Sierra 2500HD DMax
25' six-place flatbed trailer

It turned out to be a fuse under the hood. Took it to my dealer. Total cost was only 16 bucks and that was replacing the cab tailight bulb which was burnt out also. So the dog has been pardoned. He's not even a yr old yet and an excellent Border Collie otherwise. Brian

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2006 John Deere Buck 650
2005 Polaris Sportsman 700 EFI
2002 Polaris Trailblazer
2004 Xtreme CR 107 Pitbike