Exterior lights not working properly

1998 DODGE RAM
260,000 MILES • V8 • AUTOMATIC
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BRITS27
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Bought a truck recently and the brake lights have never worked. Fiddled with the truck a little bit to find out that the front and back brake lights and blinkers only work when the battery engaged. Once you turn it over and truck is running, the front and back brake lights and blinkers don’t work. What could be the cause of this?
Apr 28, 2021 at 9:15 PM
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KASEKENNY
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Can you clarify a couple things for us? First when you say front and rear brake lights don't work, what do you mean by front brake lights? Can you get some pictures of this so that we can see which lights are not working?

Also, can you elaborate on what you mean they will only work with the battery engaged? Do you mean that the key has to be on and then once you start the engine they stop working?

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/brake-lights-not-working

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/no-tail-lights-exterior-running-lights-tail-lights-out

This could be a flasher issue or ground issue but we need to get this detail to figure out possible causes. Thanks
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Apr 30, 2021 at 7:13 PM
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BRITS27
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I meant just the back brake lights, and the front and back blinkers. Sorry! Turns out it was just a loose connection in the fuse box. Thanks for all your help!
May 2, 2021 at 7:23 PM
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KASEKENNY
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That is great that you found it and thanks so much for the update. That info will surely help others with this if they have a similar issue.

Thanks and please come back to 2CarPros in the future.
May 3, 2021 at 8:38 PM