license plate lights not working even with power and new bulbs

[masonbarnard]

can't wrap my head around this.
i have two license plate bezels with new bulbs. none of the bulbs light up even with power supplied to them. They use too work.

removed bezel and looked. sockets look good. fuse is good. no corrosion. one wire system that shouldn't be confusing.

i have a long 12 gauge wire I've connected to a working power source, still nothing.

 

[roadstr6]

Ground issue?

 

[masonbarnard]

Ground issue?

they ground at the rivets on the bracket?

 

[roadstr6]

Never had mine off my 60 so I'm not sure where the ground is located. You could fab up a temporary ground with some spare wire and see if that solves your problem. I would think so.

 

[Output Shaft]

The lic plate bulbs ground to the body through the hinged tailgate supports and lower hinges. If enough corrosion has built up the path to ground might be broken.

 

[EasternYeti]

This happened to mine.

The wires are connected through a gromet in between the tailgate and the body.

You'll find the wires have likely dried out and snapped in half after years of bending with the tailgate. They break inside the gromet so you never actually see them hanging

 

[Sacto60]

Just had this fixed. Don't be too quick to say the sockets are good. After removing the whole assembly, I took a wire and ran it from the socket (just jammed it into socket anywhere) to the frame as a ground. They lit up, which told me it was a ground issue, at least in my case.

 

[masonbarnard]

The lic plate bulbs ground to the body through the hinged tailgate supports and lower hinges. If enough corrosion has built up the path to ground might be broken.

I've been testing the assembly removed. there are 3 bolts that hold it to the tail gate. Theres a ground somewhere there? because theres only one wire. I'm confusussseddddddd

 

[Output Shaft]

The bulbs ground to the assembly. The assembly grounds to the tailgate. The tailgate grounds to the body through the supports & hinges. Only one 12v+ wire is needed. The entire car that is metal is 12v- (ground) since the body & frame are grounded at the battery -.

 

[CaptClose]

@Output Shaft is right. Just like the damn dome light that won't work unless all four screws are secured in the housing.